Over the Line

A History of the England v Germany Football Rivalry

Dr Alexander Gross

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing Ltd
• eBook ISBN:
  9781801503273
• Year: 2022

The history of the fierce football rivalry between England and Germany is encapsulated in a single moment - Geoff Hurst's extra-time shot off the crossbar in the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final and the decision of an infamous Russian linesman to award a goal. It is a rivalry that now spans more than 90 years since the first official match between the two nations. For the English, a series of high-profile defeats at major tournaments saw Germany become the Angstgegner on the field, as well as an enduring obsession for the national press. For Germans, Wembley still represents the home of football, where the memories of 1966 have been supplanted by numerous successes and the appropriation of the English anthem 'football's coming home'. The rivalry has long crossed the lines of the football field, with the two nations at various moments forced to admire and learn from each other, and with football encounters between England and Germany repeatedly marking important developments in a unique and ever-changing political and cultural relationship.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of Matches
• 1. Rivals
• 2. Strange it All Seems
• 3. Political Football
• 4. Triumph and Disaster
• 5. White Heat
• 6. Going the Distance
• 7. The Nimbus of Invincibility
• 8. From the Depths of Space
• 9. Angstgegner
• 10. Football Comes Home
• 11. Fear and Loathing
• 12. Worlds Apart
• 13. Touching Me, Touching You
• Statistical Appendix
• Bibliography
• Photos