50 years of women's football in Germany

In 1955 the German football association (DFB) issued a ban on the country's football clubs forming women's teams. Football is "essentially alien to the nature of women," it said in a statement justifying the move. "In the battle for the ball, female grace disappears, body and soul inevitably suffer damage." This didn't stop determined women, like this team in Minden, from playing football anyway.

The DFB's ban on women's football only applied to West Germany. In East Germany, the women were free to play. However, in 1969 the SED, East Germany's ruling communist party, decides that only men's football would be funded and promoted as an elite sport. The East German women's national team would play just one game, losing to the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic 3-0 on May 9, 1990.

Fifteen years later, the DFB's opposition to women playing the beautiful game crumbled. Here legendary Bayern Munich and West Germany striker Gerd Müller (second from right) tosses the coin before officiating a July 1970 women's match to raise funds for the Deutsche Sporthilfe (German Sports Aid Foundation). On October 31, 1970, the DFB officially abolished the discriminatory ban imposed in 1955.

It wasn't long before women were playing on the same fields where only men had been allowed. Here, TSV Öschelbronn face Spielvereinigung Weil im Schönbuch in the first-ever women's match at Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart's home ground, the Neckarstadion. TSV Öschelbronn won the match 3-1.

However, the DFB still refused to form a women's national team. "This was clearly a setback," remembers West German women's football legend Bärbel Wohlleben. "We were only allowed to play two halves of 30 minutes too." Her club, TuS Wörsstadt won the first official German women's title in 1974. Her goal in the final against DJK Eintracht Erle was voted "Goal of the Month" by viewers of ARD TV.

SSG Bergisch Gladbach 09 soon emerge as the dominant team in West German women's football, winning nine national titles and three DFB Cup titles between 1977 and 1989. Not only that, but they also represent West Germany at an international invitational tournament in Taiwan, winning what was then seen as the unofficial women's world championship in 1981 and 1984.

In 1982, the DFB finally gives up its opposition to the formation of a women's national team. On October 10, 1982 the West German women win their first-ever international 5-1 over Switzerland. SSG Bergisch Gladbach 09's Silvia Neid, who would go on to a successful spell as the head coach of the German women's national team, scores a brace.

In 1989 West Germany hosts the Women's European Championship. The West Germans beat Italy on penalties in the semifinal – the first women's game broadcast live on West German TV. They follow this up with a 4-1 victory over Norway in the final. Here, Julia Nardenbach, Petra Damm and Doris Fitschen (from left) celebrate with the trophy. Germany's women have since won seven more European titles.

In 1990, the DFB established the Women's Bundesliga, just before reunification, making the 1990-91 season an all-West German affair. Two former East German teams joined the following season. The Bundesliga was split into north and south divisions, with the winners of each qualifying for the final. The first Women's Bundesliga champions were TSV Siegen. The two divisions were merged in 1997.

The first European champions were 1. FFC Frankfurt. Here, Nia Künzer (center) is in action against Umea IK in the final of the 2002 UEFA Women's Cup. Frankfurt would go on to win two more in 2006 and 2008. By the time they won the 2015 title, the competition had been remained the Women's Champions League. They also dominated the Bundesliga, winning seven titles between 1999 and 2008.

In 2003, the German women win their first World Cup title, beating Sweden 2-1 in the final played in Carson, California. Nia Künzer's header in the 98th minute was the Golden Goal that gave Germany the title. As was also the tradition for the men at the time, the world champions were welcomed home with a reception at Frankfurt City Hall, where they were feted by thousands of fans.

The Golden Boot winner with seven goals in six matches was superstar striker Birgit Prinz. She was named World Women's Footballer of the Year three times from 2003 to 2005 and was also named Germany's Women's Footballer of the year eight times. When she hung up her boots in 2011 she had 214 caps and 128 goals to her name, more than any other national team player – woman or man.

At the 2007 World Cup in China, Germany become the first team to defend a Women's World Cup title – and do so in impressive fashion! Their record is incredible: Six wins and a draw, 21 goals scored, none against. Led by their captain, Birgit Prinz, Germany beat Brazil 2-0 in the final. The bad news is that Germany's women have never reached a World Cup final since.

Prior to the 2009-2010 season, the UEFA Women's Cup was rebranded the UEFA Women's Champions League. Another German team would lift the new Champions League trophy. 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam beat Olympique Lyon in a penalty shootout in the final in Getafe – becoming European Champions for a second time after 2005.

Two years after the German men won the 2014 World Cup in Rio de Janeiro's legendary Maracana Stadium, the German women beat Sweden 2-1 in the final of the women's 2016 Olympic tournament to win the gold medal in the same venue. This was the first time that Germany had won gold, having had to settle for Olympic bronze medals in 2000, 2004, and 2008.

The 2016 Olympic gold medal in Rio is Silvia Neid's crowning achievement. Having won the European Championship three times as a player, Neid took over as national team coach in 2005. She would lead the team to the 2007 World Cup title, European Championship titles in 2009 and 2013 and finally to Olympic gold in 2016. Three times she was named FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football.

Currently, the dominant team in German women's football are VfL Wolfsburg. Alexandra Popp (photo) and the rest of the women's Wolves have won the double in each of the past four years. Since 2013, the club has won the Bundesliga six times and the DFB Cup seven times. In addition, the club has won the Champions League twice (2013, 2014) and lost in three more finals.