The Dresden English Football Club was a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
club founded in 1874 in
Dresden
Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...
, the first in Germany and likely the first outside
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
.
History
Initial foundation
The Dresden English Football Club was founded in 1874 and was the first football club in Germany, probably the first in continental Europe.
[ They played on a meadow at the Güntzwiesen, near the Blüherpark and the site of today's ]Glücksgas Stadium
Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion is a stadium in Dresden, Saxony, Germany. It is named after athlete Rudolf Harbig and is the current home of Dynamo Dresden. It also hosts fixtures of the Germany national football team, German national team on an irregular ...
.[
In April 1874, the '']Illustrirte Zeitung
''Illustrirte Zeitung''The word "Illustrirt" is written in contemporary German mandatorily as "Illustriert" with an additional "e", leading to the fact that today's German-speaking readers may be irritated by the title of the historical magazine ...
'' 'sic''of Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
reported on the establishment of an association "calling itself Dresden Football Club (D.F.C.)" to play a game "in which the ball is propelled forward with the foot", and described: "some twenty young men in a costume, namely in different colours to distinguish them. A kind of woollen or silk underjacket, with or without sleeves, short-fitting leg coverings that show the bare knee, long stockings, ndvery comfortable shoes or lace-up boots make up the ensemble."[
Between 1891 and 1894, seven matches are documented, the first six of which the Dresden team won; as a ]Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
sports paper reported, they had not even allowed a goal
A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines.
A goal is roughly similar to ...
to be scored against them. Their goal ratio was 34:0.[ In a match played on New Year's Day 1891, they defeated the English F.C. of ]Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
7:0; according to an account published in 1898 by the founding vice-president of the German Football Association
The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...
, Philipp Heineken, the Berliners described their play as ''nonplusultra''.[ On 18 April 1892 at Berlin, in the presence of representatives of the Ministry of Culture and of the British ambassador, they won 3:0 against a representative city team; this was presumably the Deutscher Fußball- und Cricketbund, which had the status of an early national German team.][ Their first defeat, on 10 March 1894, was a 2:0 loss to another Berlin team, Tor und Fußball Club Victoria 89, with both goals scored in the first ten minutes.][
Players in 1894 were: Beb (Captain), Burchard, Crossley, Graham, Atkins, Spencer, Ravenscraft, Johnson, le Maistre, Luxmoore, Young. The president of the club was Rev. Bowden.]
Refoundation
On 30 April 1898, former members of the Dresden English Football Club and of the Neue Dresdner FC (founded in 1893 by former DEFC members and now SpVgg Dresden-Löbtau 1893) founded the Dresdner Sport-Club.[According to ''Die Welt'', the Neue Dresdner FC was not founded until after the 1894 loss.] Until sports historian Andreas Wittner uncovered the earlier history of the DFC, it was thought to have been founded only in 1890.[
]
See also
*Oldest football clubs
The oldest football clubs trace their origins to the mid-19th century, a period when football evolved from being a casual pastime to an organised mainstream sport.
The identity of the oldest football clubs in the world, or even in a particular ...
*Cambridge rules
The Cambridge Rules were several formulations of the rules of football made at the University of Cambridge during the nineteenth century.
Cambridge Rules are believed to have had a significant influence on the modern football codes. The 1856 C ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{Coord, 51, 02, 25, N, 13, 44, 52, E, region:DE-SN_type:landmark, display=title
Defunct football clubs in Germany
Defunct football clubs in Saxony
Sport in Dresden
Association football clubs established in 1874
1874 establishments in Germany