About this chart race
Germany crowned 114 champions in 124 seasons. The missing years tell their own story: no title was awarded in 1904 after a protest left the final unplayed, none from 1915 to 1919 or from 1945 to 1947 because of the two world wars, and none in 1922, when the final was abandoned and the championship declined.
For the first two decades the all-time lead belonged to VfB Leipzig, winners of the very first championship in 1903 and of three in total. Then came the club that ran German football for two generations. 1. FC Nürnberg went top in 1925 and no one passed them for 62 years - not Schalke 04, who won seven titles between 1934 and 1958 and twice drew level, and not Bayern Munich, who did not draw level until 1986 and only led alone from 1987.
Bayern's own start was slow. They won in 1932 and then waited 37 years for a second title. Since 1969 they have won 34 more, including eleven in a row from 2013 to 2023, and they now hold 35 of the 114 championships ever awarded - almost one in three. Bayer Leverkusen's unbeaten 2024 side broke the streak; Bayern took the next two.
Behind them the order is Nürnberg 9, Borussia Dortmund 8, Schalke 04 7, Hamburger SV 6, and VfB Stuttgart and Borussia Mönchengladbach 5 each. Nürnberg have not won since 1968 and Schalke not since 1958. Titles from 1903 to 1962 were decided by a national knockout between regional champions; the Bundesliga replaced that format in 1963. East German championships, played separately from 1950 to 1990, are not counted here.
This animated ranking shows how cumulative german championship titles changed across 30 series between 1903 and 2026. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2026, Bayern Munich leads with 35.
Included in this race
Bayern Munich, 1. FC Nürnberg, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04, Hamburger SV, VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Werder Bremen, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, VfB Leipzig, SpVgg Fürth, 1. FC Köln, Viktoria Berlin, Hertha BSC, Hannover 96, Dresdner SC, VfR Mannheim, VfL Wolfsburg, Union 92 Berlin, TSV 1860 Munich, Rot-Weiss Essen, Rapid Wien, Phönix Karlsruhe, Karlsruher FV, Holstein Kiel, Freiburger FC, Fortuna Düsseldorf, Eintracht Frankfurt, Eintracht Braunschweig, Bayer Leverkusen.
Source
Data from Wikipedia — List of German football champions. Every figure shown comes from this source — nothing is estimated or generated.
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