In 1949, before East Germany (GDR) was founded and while regular private clubs were still banned under Soviet occupation, efforts were made to play football anyway.

On 6 February 1951, the GDR applied for FIFA membership, which was protested against by the German Football Association, which was already a full member.

The first international game, not competitive but rather a display of goodwill, took place on 21 September 1952 against Poland in Warsaw, losing 3–0 in front of a crowd of 35,000.

This caused much euphoria not only in the West, and the GDR tried to counter this by abandoning their policy of presenting a group of politically reliable socialist role models of their "new German state"; instead, players were selected purely according to ability.

On the other hand, the DFB team changed its line-up after the loss and went on to win all games in the other second round group B, against Yugoslavia, Sweden, and Poland, and the World title against the Netherlands.

East Germany nearly secured qualification for the 1990 World Cup, needing only a draw versus Austria in Vienna in their final group match on 15 November 1989 to achieve a place in Italy.

The GDR took part in the draw for the qualification for the European Championship 1992 and was drawn in Group 5 together with the FRG, Belgium, Wales, and Luxembourg.

[3] Millions of East Germans had moved to the West before the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, and some escaped in successful Republikflucht attempts also afterward.

All East Germans were automatically entitled to receive a West German passport, but players who had caps for the DFV, like Norbert Nachtweih and Jürgen Pahl who fled in October 1976 at a U21 match in Turkey, were ineligible for international competition for the DFB due to FIFA rules.

Three other games were played in Olympic Football where only players with amateur status could represent West Germany, like a young Uli Hoeneß who delayed his pro career in 1972.