1. FC Katowice
Encyclopedia
1. FC Kattowitz was an ethnically German association football club
playing in what was Kattowitz, Silesia Province in Germany (now Katowice
, Silesian Voivodeship
, Poland
) and was active during the inter-war period and World War II when the two countries struggled over control of the region. Established in 1905, the original club disappeared in 1945; a modern-day Polish club using the name 1. FC Katowice
was formed in 2007.
Preußen was one of three clubs that followed out of SV, alongside Germania Kattowitz
and Diana Kattowitz
, that formed the short-lived Kattowitzer Ballspiel-Verband (KBV, en:Kattowitz Ballgame Association). The team claimed that league's only championship in 1905.
Top-flight football in the region was dominated by the Verband Breslauer Ballspiel-Vereine (VBB, en:Association of Breslau Ballgame Clubs, 1903–06) and the Verband Niederlausitzer Ballspielvereine (VNB, en:Association of Niederlausitz Ballgame Clubs, 1904–06). These two associations merged in 1906 to form the regional Südostdeutschland Fußballverband (SOFV, en:Southeast German Football Association) and FC Preußen became part of the league in the 1906–07 season. The team advanced to the league final in 1908 and 1909 where they were defeated in turn by VfR Breslau (5:2) and SC Alemannia Cottbus (3:2). They made another appearance in the final in 1913 and beat Askania Forst
2:1, however, Forst protested the result and beat Kattowitz 4:0 in the re-play. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 led to the suspension of championship play in the SOFV until the 1919–20 season.
, Upper Silesia was the subject of a territorial dispute between Germany and Poland. Following the Silesian Uprisings
in 1921 and a subsequent League of Nations
plebiscite, part of the region – including Kattowitz – was granted to Poland and the name of the city was changed to Katowice. The football club was caught up in the politically charged events of the period.
In 1920–21 Preußen was still part of German football competition in the SOFV. The season ended with Vereinigte Breslauer Sportfreunde
, Viktoria Forst, and Kattowitz in a three way tie for first place separated only by goal difference, which was not at the time considered decisive. A playoff was organized to determine which of the three clubs would take part in the German national playoffs. Kattowitz was unable to participate because of passport problems and Forst ultimately went on to represent the SOFV. A separate playoff was later held to determine which of the three clubs would be Südostdeutschland champions. Breslau won both of their matches – including a 5:1 victory over Preußen – to claim the title.
With the transfer of the city of Katowice to Poland, the name of the club was Polonized in 1922 to 1. Klub Sportowy Katowice. That same year, the membership of the club successfully challenged the change in court and won the right to play as 1. FC Kattowitz. By 1924, the team was part of regional Polish competition and playing as 1. FC Katowice. It soon emerged as one of the strongest teams in the country and finished second to Wisła Kraków in the first season of Poland's newly established national competition in 1927. Katowice lost a crucial match 0:2 at home to Wisła; the team's supporters claimed that referee Zygmunt Hanke had not called a fair match because Polish football authorities did not want to see a German side become national champions.
During this period Katowice was well known for its excellent players: goalkeeper Emil Goerlitz, who was the first footballer from Upper Silesia to play for the Polish national team; defender Erich Heidenreich, regarded as one of the best backs in Europe, who refused to play for Poland citing his German heritage; and forward Karol Kossok
, another Polish national who went on to become the top scorer for the clubs Cracovia Kraków
and Pogoń Lwów
. The team's most famous player was Ernest Willimowski, who started his career with Katowice, but was sold to Ruch Chorzów
in 1933, and appeared with both the Polish
and German
national squads.
Katowice faltered in 1929 and was relegated from first division Polish football, descending to play in the regional Silesian league where they became champions in 1932. They went on to the promotion round playoffs against the winners of the Kraków
league (Podgorze Kraków) and Kielce
league (Warta Zawiercie). The Katowice side twice beat Warta (5:2, 6:2), but also twice lost to Podgorze (1:2, 1:3). As a result, Podgorze qualified for the central playoffs, and later went on the national league.
. After the German invasion of Poland which began World War II in the fall of 1939, the team resumed play with German authorities looking to hold up 1. FC Kattowitz as a model side in Upper Silesia for propaganda purposes.
In 1933, German football was reorganized under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight Gauligen. With the onset of the war, existing divisions were expanded or additional divisions were formed to incorporate conquered territories. Citing the club's "excellent fighting spirit during the Polish-time", Nazi sporting authorities advanced 1. FC to the Gauliga Schlesien
in 1940 without their having to qualify competitively, unlike other teams in the region. Kattowitz earned a third place result in the 1940–41 campaign.
The division was split the following year into the Gauliga Niederschlesien and the Gauliga Oberschlesien, where 1. FC played until the end of the war. The club attracted players such as Ewald Dytko
, Paweł Cyganek, Erwin Nyc
and Wilimowski to its ranks, but was never able to overtake rival Germania Königshütte
, instead struggling as a lower table side that was unable to develop into a propaganda show piece as authorities had hoped.
The club's last known match was a 1:2 loss to Preußen Hindenburg
on 14 January 1945. A game scheduled for a week later versus TuS Schwientochlowitz was never played and by 27 January Soviet Red Army troops occupied the city. 1. FC Kattowitz sat atop the division at the end of the never completed season and the club soon ceased to exist. Today a side playing as 1. FC Katowice competes in the Polish A-Class (men) and Polish Extra League
(women).
Football in Germany
Association football is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association is the sport's national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 26,000 football clubs. There is a league system, with the 1. and 2. Bundesliga on top, and the winner of the first...
playing in what was Kattowitz, Silesia Province in Germany (now Katowice
Katowice
Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...
, Silesian Voivodeship
Silesian Voivodeship
Silesian Voivodeship, or Silesia Province , is a voivodeship, or province, in southern Poland, centering on the historic region known as Upper Silesia...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
) and was active during the inter-war period and World War II when the two countries struggled over control of the region. Established in 1905, the original club disappeared in 1945; a modern-day Polish club using the name 1. FC Katowice
1. FC Katowice
1. FC Kattowitz was an ethnically German association football club playing in what was Kattowitz, Silesia Province in Germany and was active during the inter-war period and World War II when the two countries struggled over control of the region...
was formed in 2007.
Origins as FC Preußen
The original club was formed by brothers Emil and Rudolf Fonfara as FC Preußen Kattowitz out of predecessor side Sportverein Frisch Auf Kattowitz. SV was the first football club in the region and was established at the initiative of local priests. One of the local organizers was Karol Walica, whose father brought the first leather football to the city from Berlin.Preußen was one of three clubs that followed out of SV, alongside Germania Kattowitz
Germania Kattowitz
Germania Kattowitz was an ethnically German association football club playing in what was Kattowitz, Upper Silesia in Germany before the First World War and shortly afterwards. It was one of a small number of clubs that made up the Kattowitzer Ballspiel-Verband alongside Preussen Kattowitz and...
and Diana Kattowitz
Diana Kattowitz
SC Diana Kattowitz was an ethnically German association football club playing in what was Kattowitz, Upper Silesia in Germany during the inter-war period. Established 13 February 1905, it was one of a small number of clubs that made up the Kattowitzer Ballspiel-Verband alongside Preussen Kattowitz...
, that formed the short-lived Kattowitzer Ballspiel-Verband (KBV, en:Kattowitz Ballgame Association). The team claimed that league's only championship in 1905.
Top-flight football in the region was dominated by the Verband Breslauer Ballspiel-Vereine (VBB, en:Association of Breslau Ballgame Clubs, 1903–06) and the Verband Niederlausitzer Ballspielvereine (VNB, en:Association of Niederlausitz Ballgame Clubs, 1904–06). These two associations merged in 1906 to form the regional Südostdeutschland Fußballverband (SOFV, en:Southeast German Football Association) and FC Preußen became part of the league in the 1906–07 season. The team advanced to the league final in 1908 and 1909 where they were defeated in turn by VfR Breslau (5:2) and SC Alemannia Cottbus (3:2). They made another appearance in the final in 1913 and beat Askania Forst
Askania Forst
Askania Forst was a German association football club in what was the city of Forst , Brandenburg and is today Zasieki, Poland. Established in 1901, the team earned a number of championships in the 1910s, but disappeared from top flight German football after 1920.-History:Fußballclub Askania Forst...
2:1, however, Forst protested the result and beat Kattowitz 4:0 in the re-play. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 led to the suspension of championship play in the SOFV until the 1919–20 season.
Play in Poland in the 1920s and 1930s
After the war and the re-establishment of a Polish republicSecond Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
, Upper Silesia was the subject of a territorial dispute between Germany and Poland. Following the Silesian Uprisings
Silesian Uprisings
The Silesian Uprisings were a series of three armed uprisings of the Poles and Polish Silesians of Upper Silesia, from 1919–1921, against German rule; the resistance hoped to break away from Germany in order to join the Second Polish Republic, which had been established in the wake of World War I...
in 1921 and a subsequent League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
plebiscite, part of the region – including Kattowitz – was granted to Poland and the name of the city was changed to Katowice. The football club was caught up in the politically charged events of the period.
In 1920–21 Preußen was still part of German football competition in the SOFV. The season ended with Vereinigte Breslauer Sportfreunde
Vereinigte Breslauer Sportfreunde
Vereinigte Breslauer Sportfreunde was a German association football club from what was at the time the city of Breslau, Lower Silesia in Germany and is today Wroclaw, Poland. The club was established in 1919 through the merger of predecessor sides SC Preußen Breslau and Verein Breslauer Sportfreunde...
, Viktoria Forst, and Kattowitz in a three way tie for first place separated only by goal difference, which was not at the time considered decisive. A playoff was organized to determine which of the three clubs would take part in the German national playoffs. Kattowitz was unable to participate because of passport problems and Forst ultimately went on to represent the SOFV. A separate playoff was later held to determine which of the three clubs would be Südostdeutschland champions. Breslau won both of their matches – including a 5:1 victory over Preußen – to claim the title.
With the transfer of the city of Katowice to Poland, the name of the club was Polonized in 1922 to 1. Klub Sportowy Katowice. That same year, the membership of the club successfully challenged the change in court and won the right to play as 1. FC Kattowitz. By 1924, the team was part of regional Polish competition and playing as 1. FC Katowice. It soon emerged as one of the strongest teams in the country and finished second to Wisła Kraków in the first season of Poland's newly established national competition in 1927. Katowice lost a crucial match 0:2 at home to Wisła; the team's supporters claimed that referee Zygmunt Hanke had not called a fair match because Polish football authorities did not want to see a German side become national champions.
During this period Katowice was well known for its excellent players: goalkeeper Emil Goerlitz, who was the first footballer from Upper Silesia to play for the Polish national team; defender Erich Heidenreich, regarded as one of the best backs in Europe, who refused to play for Poland citing his German heritage; and forward Karol Kossok
Karol Kossok
Karol Albert Kossok . A Polish soccer forward, a.k.a. “the Silesian Giant”, Kossok was the best scorer of the Polish First Division in 1930 ....
, another Polish national who went on to become the top scorer for the clubs Cracovia Kraków
Cracovia Kraków
Cracovia is a professional multisports club based in Kraków, Poland. Cracovia is the oldest Polish football club still in existence , and has continually participated in competition since its founding on 13 June 1906...
and Pogoń Lwów
Pogon Lwów
LKS Pogoń Lwów is a former Polish professional sports club which was located in Lwów , and existed from 1904 until the outbreak of World War II in 1939. It was the second oldest Polish football club behind other teams from Lwów - Czarni and Lechia...
. The team's most famous player was Ernest Willimowski, who started his career with Katowice, but was sold to Ruch Chorzów
Ruch Chorzów
Ruch Chorzów is a Polish association football club based in Chorzów, Upper Silesia. It is one of the most successful football teams in Poland: 14 time national champion, and 3 time winner of the Polish Cup. Currently the team plays in the top Polish league, the Ekstraklasa. Their stadium capacity...
in 1933, and appeared with both the Polish
Poland national football team
The Poland national football team represents Poland in association football and is controlled by the Polish Football Association, the governing body for football in Poland...
and German
Germany national football team
The Germany national football team is the football team that has represented Germany in international competition since 1908. It is governed by the German Football Association , which was founded in 1900....
national squads.
Katowice faltered in 1929 and was relegated from first division Polish football, descending to play in the regional Silesian league where they became champions in 1932. They went on to the promotion round playoffs against the winners of the Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
league (Podgorze Kraków) and Kielce
Kielce
Kielce ) is a city in central Poland with 204,891 inhabitants . It is also the capital city of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship since 1999, previously in Kielce Voivodeship...
league (Warta Zawiercie). The Katowice side twice beat Warta (5:2, 6:2), but also twice lost to Podgorze (1:2, 1:3). As a result, Podgorze qualified for the central playoffs, and later went on the national league.
Play under the Third Reich in the 1940s
In June 1939, the club's activities were suspended by Polish authorities when they were accused of promoting and supporting the interests of Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. After the German invasion of Poland which began World War II in the fall of 1939, the team resumed play with German authorities looking to hold up 1. FC Kattowitz as a model side in Upper Silesia for propaganda purposes.
In 1933, German football was reorganized under the Third Reich into sixteen top-flight Gauligen. With the onset of the war, existing divisions were expanded or additional divisions were formed to incorporate conquered territories. Citing the club's "excellent fighting spirit during the Polish-time", Nazi sporting authorities advanced 1. FC to the Gauliga Schlesien
Gauliga Schlesien
The Gauliga Schlesien was the highest football league in the region of Silesia , which consisted of the Prussian provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia from 1933 to 1945...
in 1940 without their having to qualify competitively, unlike other teams in the region. Kattowitz earned a third place result in the 1940–41 campaign.
The division was split the following year into the Gauliga Niederschlesien and the Gauliga Oberschlesien, where 1. FC played until the end of the war. The club attracted players such as Ewald Dytko
Ewald Dytko
Edward Jan Dytko was a German-born Upper Silesian soccer player, who, when his home country became Poland by Treaty of Versailles represented the no longer existing team of Dąb Katowice, also in 1935-39 he played in the Polish National Team.He was born in Zalenze and since early childhood played...
, Paweł Cyganek, Erwin Nyc
Erwin Nyc
Erwin Peter Nytz or Edward Piotr Nyc was an interwar Polish soccer midfield player of Upper Silesian origin. Born Erwin Nytz his Silesian homeland became Poland after Treaty of Versailles and he changed his last name to its Polonized version in 1934...
and Wilimowski to its ranks, but was never able to overtake rival Germania Königshütte
AKS Chorzów
AKS Chorzów is a sports club in based in Chorzów, Poland. It is one of the earliest sports organizations in Upper Silesia and is still well-known nationally for its football and handball teams...
, instead struggling as a lower table side that was unable to develop into a propaganda show piece as authorities had hoped.
The club's last known match was a 1:2 loss to Preußen Hindenburg
Preussen Hindenburg
Preußen Hindenburg was a German association football club from the city of Zaborze, Upper Silesia in Germany .-History:...
on 14 January 1945. A game scheduled for a week later versus TuS Schwientochlowitz was never played and by 27 January Soviet Red Army troops occupied the city. 1. FC Kattowitz sat atop the division at the end of the never completed season and the club soon ceased to exist. Today a side playing as 1. FC Katowice competes in the Polish A-Class (men) and Polish Extra League
Ekstraliga Kobiet
The Ekstraliga Kobiet is the top level women's football league of Poland.The women's league startet out to play a champion in 1979-80. The first title holder was Czarni Sosnowiec in 1980. In 2005 the league was renamed to Ekstraliga Kobiet. The winner of the league qualifies for the UEFA Women's...
(women).
Honours
- Polish vice-champions: 1927
- Upper Silesia (Germany) champions (5): 1907, 1908, 1909, 1913, 1922
- Autonomous Silesian VoivodeshipAutonomous Silesian VoivodeshipThe Silesian Voivodeship was an autonomous province of the interwar Second Polish Republic. It consisted of territory which came into Polish possession as a result of the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, the Geneva Conventions, three Upper Silesian Uprisings, and the eventual partition of Upper...
(Poland) champions: 1932