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The band was founded in 1996 by Peter "Balboa" Brugger (guitar, vocals), Florian "Rakete" Weber (drums, vocals), and Rüdiger "Rüde" Linhof (bass). They took their original name, Stiller, from their former football manager, Hans Stiller, at SV Germering. They later changed their name because a different band called Stiller owned the rights to this name. The term Sportfreunde literally translates to friends in sports and is also used in names of sports clubs (e.g. Sportfreunde Siegen).

Sportfreunde Stiller's track "Independent" from Die gute Seite was featured in the video game FIFA 2003.

In 2006 the band wrote "'54, '74, '90, 2006", a fan hymn for the German World Cup squad which became a number one hit in Germany; the song commemorates West German championships in the 1954, 1974, and 1990 World Cups. After Germany lost in the semi-final against Italy on July 4, 2006, the song was reworked as "'54, '74, '90, 2010" in anticipation of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Sportfreunde Stiller was nominated for Best German Act at the MTV Europe Music Awards 2006 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Their new album "La Bum" was released on August 3, 2007 (and reached the number 1 spot in Germany) with their single "Alles Roger" debuting on July 20, 2007 (reaching number 22 in Germany). The album title is an anagram on album. The band was also nominated once again for the 2007 MTV Europe Music Awards award for German Act of the year.

The entire La Bum album (bonus track edition) was added to the American iTunes store in early 2008.

The song "'54, '74, '90, 2010" is featured as a downloadable track in the game Guitar Hero World Tour

In 2009 Sportfreunde Stiller was the sixth German band to record an album for the MTV Unplugged series. The album includes adaptations of old songs, covered songs and new songs alike. Although titled MTV Unplugged in New York the album was actually recorded during a concert at Bavaria Film Studios, Munich.