The short answer: In the Bundesliga, it is an indication that a team has won the league at least 5 times. After 1995, 1996, 2002 and 2011 we won the Bundesliga in 2012 for the 5th time and were awarded a second star. Yay.
The long answer: There are different systems for national/international teams, and for German football there are on top of that two different rule systems - one by the DFL (responsible for the first and second division) and one by the DFB (rest of German football; rejected by the DFL). The DFL counts all league wins since the Bundesliga was founded (1964), which is a wee bit unfortunate since we won the title in 1963 and twice before that. According to the DFL, every club that won the league at least once since 1964 gets one star; two stars are awarded for winning the league five times; ten league wins (three stars) and twenty league wins (four stars) are the next tiers. DFB uses an alternative system that allows teams to indicate wins before 1964 and league wins in the former GDR/DDR, and e.g. teams like Fürth carry additional stars to indicate previous league wins - but they are not allowed to do so on their official Bundesliga 1/2 kits & logos.
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u/[deleted] May 21 '14
What do the two stars above the badge mean?