Die „Affäre Eidinger“. Zur Premiere des Profifußballs auf dem europäischen Kontinent 1920Die „Affäre Eidinger“. Zur Premiere des Profifußballs auf dem europäischen Kontinent 1920

The first attempt at installing professional football on the European continent has so far been handled in a surprisingly cursory manner by German sports historiography - even though it has been hotly debated for years why the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB) only officially introduced professional football in 1972. Who were Otto and Ernst Eidinger, who, together with their brother-in-law Josef Rosenblüth, acted as “directors” in organising the first professional football game in Germany on August 21st, 1920, in (Berlin-)Lichtenberg between the “1st German Professional Football Club” (1. Deutscher Berufs-Fußball-Club) and a selection of Hungarian professional players? Just as unknown as the economic background of this pioneering project is the fact that the three managers were Jewish. The strong hostility towards them was therefore influenced by anti-Semitic resentment - along with their youthful recklessness. Below, it is argued that leading representatives of the DFB - such as second DFB chairman Felix Linnemann - were under such pressure during the events of summer 1920 that they initially supported the organisation of professional football under the umbrella of the DFB. This utilitarianism sheds new light on the debate amongst German football historians about why the DFB defended its amateur status for so long after the supposed Rosenblüth’schen Fußball G.m.b.H. failed. At the heart of this article, however, is the historical reconstruction of the eventful days of the “Eidinger Affair” and the fate of its protagonists.