A history of all-German UEFA Champions League encounters
Throughout its history, the UEFA Champions League has thrown up some magical ties pitting Europe’s elite against one another, but there’s something extra special when it involves two clubs from the same nation. Although such ties are more common than they once were, all-German affairs remain pretty rare on the continental stage.
There have indeed only been four ties in which German teams have locked horns since the Champions League was introduced in 1992/93, with all involving Bayern Munich.
The most recent was the 2024/25 round of 16 against Bayer Leverkusen, while the most famous is without doubt the 2012/13 final at Wembley with Borussia Dortmund - one of eight same-nation finals.
Watch: Bayern vs. Dortmund Legends match for 10th anniversary of Wembley final
Bayern Munich 5-0 Bayer Leverkusen (on agg), 2024/25 last 16
Bayern and Leverkusen met five times across all competitions in 2024/25, as they also faced off in the last 16 of the DFB Cup. Leverkusen progressed on that occasion, and both Bundesliga fixtures ended in draws, but Bayern were the clear winners on the European stage.
Vincent Kompany's men flew out of the blocks in the first leg, winning 3-0 at the Allianz Arena after Nordi Mukiele was sent off for the visitors. The second leg was a closer affair but, despite their best efforts, Leverkusen still fell to a 2-0 loss in front of their supporters. Harry Kane was the main thorn in their side, scoring three times across the two games.
Bayern showed all of their experience and quality across those encounters, but their European journey ended in the next round as they were eliminated by eventual runners-up Inter Milan.
Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Bayern Munich, 2012/13 final
The 2013 final is the most infamous of the all-German Champions League games. Both sides were stacked full of stars, such as Robert Lewandowski, who would later go on to cross the divide between the two clubs.
Jürgen Klopp’s Dortmund side had pulled off unbelievable results to reach the final, including two 90th-minute goals to beat Malaga and a semi-final victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid, in which Lewandowski scored four in the first leg. Unfortunately for Dortmund, Jupp Heynckes’s Bayern were an unstoppable force that season.
After a goalless opening half, the game sparked into life in the 60th minute when Mario Mandžukić squeezed the ball home from close range after good work from Arjen Robben to make it 1-0.
The Bavarians' joy was short-lived as just seven minutes later, İlkay Gündoğan made it 1-1 from the spot following a foul by Dante on Marco Reus. It appeared the game was heading towards extra-time until Robben latched onto Franck Ribéry’s flick in the 89th minute. The Dutchman held off the desperate challenges of the Dortmund defenders before half-scooping the ball past Roman Weidenfeller to cause absolute pandemonium.
Bayern Munich 6-0 Kaiserslautern (on agg), 1998/99 quarter-final
Although Kaiserslautern now play in Bundesliga 2, in the 90s they were one of the best clubs in Germany, lifting the Bundesliga Meisterschale both in 1991 and 1998. On the latter occasion, Lautern became the only newly promoted club ever to win the Bundesliga.
In the 1999 quarter-final, the defending Bundesliga champions faced soon-to-be champions Bayern in an incredibly one-sided tie. The Bavarians overcame the Red Devils 2-0 at home in the first leg before blowing their domestic rivals away 4-0 at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion to complete a 6-0 aggregate thrashing.
That season, Bayern would go on to make the final, where they suffered the agony of conceding two goals in added time against Manchester United to lose 2-1 in Barcelona.
Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Bayern Munich (on agg), 1997/98 quarter-final
When Dortmund and Bayern met in the quarter-finals in 1998, it was the first time that two clubs from the same nation had ever faced each other in the Champions League.
This time, it was BVB that came out on top over the two legs. The first fixture between the two sides finished goalless in Munich. The return leg in Dortmund also saw no goals in 90 minutes, prompting extra-time, where Stéphane Chapuisat eventually struck the decisive goal for Borussia.
Having just won the competition the previous season, this victory gave Dortmund real hope of winning the competition back-to-back, but they were unable to overcome eventual winners Real Madrid in the semi-final.
Although the Champions League in its current form has only existed since 1992, its predecessor, the European Cup, also saw several German sides meet.
However, those games were between East and West German clubs. Two of those encounters were round-of-16 ties that involved Bayern.
In 1973, they overcame Dynamo Dresden in a thriller that ended 7-6 on aggregate. The following year the now record champions beat Magdeburg 5-3 on aggregate. On both occasions, the Bavarians went on to win the competition as part of their hat-trick of consecutive European Cup triumphs.
Two other European Cup fixtures also saw East and West Germany clash with both fixtures involving Berlin’s BFC Dynamo; a club that later went insolvent before being reformed in the 2000s. In both of these fixtures, Dynamo lost their first-round matches. The first was against Hamburg in 1982, where they lost 3-1 on aggregate. They then took on Werder Bremen in 1988, winning the first leg 3-0 at home only to lose the away fixture 5-0 to go out 5-3 on aggregate.
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