Germany Women

In September 1991, a German women's volleyball team took the court at a European Championship for the first time in 45 years without an East or a West attached to its name. The team behind it, the Deutscher Volleyball-Verband, had been founded on 5 May 1955 in Kassel, but for most of its existence it governed only half the country; the other half answered to the sporting authorities of the German Democratic Republic.

That East German side was, for a stretch, the stronger of the two: European champions in 1983 on home ground, again in 1987 in Belgium, and Olympic runners-up in Moscow in 1980, beaten 3–1 in the final by the Soviet Union. West Germany never reached that level, and once the two programmes merged in 1990, the unified team spent years rebuilding rather than contending — its best Olympic finish since has been sixth, at Los Angeles in 1984, a result the East German side technically owns rather than the merged one.

The revival came two decades later. Margareta Kozuch, capped between 2005 and 2015, was named German Player of the Year five years running and took the Best Spiker award at the 2011 European Championship, where Germany lost the final to Serbia 3–2; two years later they lost another final, to Russia, then beat Belgium to win the CEV European League. Lenka Dürr, libero from 2010 to 2021, was voted best in her position at Montreux twice.

None of it has translated into a world title. Germany's best FIVB World Championship finish remains fourth, set by the East German team in 1974 and 1986, and the side has not qualified for an Olympic Games since 2004.