Draft:First Opponent

From a German perspective, the First Opponent is a term for the special historical relationship between German and Swiss football.

Origins
After the founding of the German Football Association, Germany's first official international match was played in Basel on the 5th of April 1908. They beat their opponents Switzerland 5:3. Switzerland had already played their first international game (against France) in 1905. On the 4th of April 1909, the second international game between Germany and Switzerland took place, with the German team gaining their second victory.

After the First World War
In 1917, during the first world war, neutral Switzerland offered Germany to play a friendly match, however, they turned it down. The game went ahead in Zurich in June 1920. At this point in time, Germany had lost the war, which according to the allies, they were solely responsible for. On the international stage, they were an isolated state and shunned by most other countries. The friendly game against the Swiss – despite vehement criticism from England and Belgium - allowed Germany to return to the international sports stage. This was years before they were able to do it on a diplomatic level, for example by joining the League of Nations.

After the Second World War
Even after the Second World War, Germany's sports policy was ostracized throughout the world. Again, it was the Swiss who offered to break their isolation; the first international game after the war took place on the 22nd of November 1950 in Stuttgart, after Switzerland lifted a gambling ban that had been imposed on Germany. Switzerland was also the country that lobbied the hardest for the DFB to be reinstated as a member of the World Football Association (FIFA). After the 1990 reunification, Switzerland was the third international opponent, but the first to feature former GDR players (Matthias Sammer and Andreas Thom).

Women's National Team
After the founding of the German Female Football team, the tradition followed with the first international game against Switzerland. The game took place on the 10th of November 1982, with Germany winning 5:1.

Today
To date, Switzerland has played the highest number of international football games against the German Men's National Football team: So far, there have been 53 official games played between the two teams. Of these, Germany has won 36, Switzerland 9 and the other 8 ended as draws. To this day, games between the neighbours are regularly called the “first opponent” in German media.