The humble team photograph is one of football’s hardy perennials featuring a format which, apart from the occasional imaginative exception, is the same now as it was in the earliest days of the game. Eleven players pose for the camera standing in a single line; otherwise split into two rows with one standing and the other kneeling or sitting.
In your lifetime you’ll have seen thousands of teams pose for thousands of these shots and their ubiquitous nature means the results are rarely interesting. With some exceptions. Here at BTLM we are strangely drawn to a collection featuring a range of West German clubs back from the early days of the Bundesliga in the 1960s. The simplicity of the sponsor-free kits add impact, but it’s the unusual vibrancy and luminosity in these images which we find especially striking.
We have duly picked a selection of our favourites for this Vintage post. If you too are impressed then check out the 11Freunde site where you can purchase some of these images and turn them into wall art.
Beyond The Last Man 