Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) has been present in the international discussions on the teaching of (sports) games in many countries for 40 years. In the German-speaking scientific community of sports pedagogy and didactics, however, this approach has received less attention. In a first step, this article aims at providing an overview of the TGfU and the corresponding current international discourse concerning the research results in the context of Physical Education and teacher training. In a second step, possible connections to current discourses in German-speaking sports pedagogy and didactics will be pointed out. In particular, we see options in the context of cognitive activation and democracy building in physical education. We see this approach as a starting point to anchor the TGfU more strongly in teacher training and consequently in physical education in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.