Germany didn’t just crash out of the World Cup Monday night. For some, the defeat looked like something bigger: yet another national institution losing its nerve.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup champion, which has struggled at every major tournament since 2016, suffered a bruising defeat against Paraguay, losing 3-4 on penalties to be dumped out of the tournament hosted in the Americas.
But Die Mannschaft is not the only German national institution failing to live up to expectations.
“This national team plays the way this federal government governs: big on ambition, short on resolve. Everyone struggles on their own, no one takes responsibility, and when luck finally does appear, the goal doesn’t count,” wrote German Member of the European Parliament Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann on X, referring to a controversially disallowed goal made during overtime, which would have brought Germany victory.
There is “always a link between sport and politics,” said professor of political science Alexander Straßner — and Europe’s largest economy is no exception.
Much like its men’s football team, over the last decade, the country’s automotive sector and industrial backbone have lost much of their former shine.
When Germany crushed Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 World Cup semifinals before going on to win football’s most prestigious tournament for a fourth time, Volkswagen was on the verge of becoming the world’s largest automaker. Last week, that same company announced tens of thousands of job cuts, with major automotive supplier Bosch planning similarly large-scale layoffs.
Unemployment in the country has now climbed to its highest level since the Covid pandemic, and economic growth remains weak.
A nation once synonymous with delivering on performance, reliability, efficiency and engineering excellence is now better known for its chronically delayed trains, infrastructure mega-projects plagued by years of holdups and ballooning costs, and ailing automotive industry.
Germany’s international standing has taken a hit too: After Chancellor Friedrich Merz told students at a high school that the U.S. was being “humiliated” by the Iranian regime, President Donald Trump responded by attacking the German leader on Truth Social by threatening Berlin’s nightmare scenario: a withdrawal of 5,000 U.S. troops from Germany.
Add to that the government’s very low approval ratings and the far-right Alternative for Germany party rising in the polls, many Germans don’t think Merz can turn things around.
The chancellor’s coalition government has struggled to deliver major economic reforms, with only a planned pension overhaul generating slight optimism among political observers.
Meanwhile, Merz seems unable to read the public mood — whether in politics or football.
“Even though the loss hurts: What a game, @DFB_Team! Your determination and team spirit throughout this World Cup inspired our country. We’re proud of you,” wrote the chancellor on X after the final whistle late Monday night, garnering ridicule and pushback from German fans.
German media later reported the post was accidentally published by a junior member of the chancellor’s staff, who selected the wrong prewritten message.
But the end of Die Mannschaft‘s World Cup ambitions should not necessarily be taken as an irrefutable sign of Germany’s imminent defeat.
The country still has hope, argued Straßner: “In a political culture shaped by negativity … the decline of the West is always said to be just around the corner, with the state the national team held up as the latest omen. First the national team collapses, then society itself. That is utter nonsense.”