Abstract

Just like most dictatorships, the German National Socialist regime attempted to completely control sporting activities. To that effect, in the early years of war in the ‘Third Reich’, the Bavarian sporting official Karl Oberhuber called for a ‘revolution’ of the football game system. He was supported by several influential National Socialist politicians. Oberhuber pushed to put aggressive, extremely attack-oriented football on the agenda, initially in Bavaria and then in the entire German Empire. In his view, football should be transformed into an instrument for Hitler's warfare. This version of a true German Blitzkrieg football was simultaneously conceived as an alternative to the allegedly defensive and unattractive English football. However, this initiative faced resistance from Sepp Herberger, the coach of the German national team. The present article deals with the conflict-ridden course of events surrounding the attempts to transform football along paramilitary lines, which ultimately failed. The author elaborates on how this dispute over the correct game system was linked to other discussions at the global level at that time, which also aimed to make football a more entertaining, high-scoring and thus financially lucrative affair. This was a chapter of German and European sporting history, which was entirely unknown until recently. Verf.-Referat