Brandenburg football championship
Encyclopedia
| Brandenburg football championship |
|---|
| Founded |
| 1898 |
| Disbanded |
| 1933 |
| Nation |
 German Empire The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German... |
.svg.png) Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate... |
 |
| Region Provinces of Prussia The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in... |
| Province of Brandenburg Province of Brandenburg The Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in... |
| Number of Seasons |
| 36 |
| Replaced by |
| Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg The Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg was the highest football league in the provinces of Brandenburg and Berlin in the German state of Prussia from 1933 to 1945... |
| Level on Pyramid |
| Level 1 German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation... |
| Domestic Cup |
| Berliner Landespokal |
| Last Champions 1932-33 |
| Hertha BSC |
The Brandenburg football championship (German: Brandenburgische Fußball-Meisterschaft) was the highest association football competition in the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n Province of Brandenburg
Province of Brandenburg
The Province of Brandenburg was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946.-History:The first people who are known to have inhabited Brandenburg were the Suevi. They were succeeded by the Slavonians, whom Henry II conquered and converted to Christianity in...
, including Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, established in 1898. The competition was disbanded in 1933 with the rise of the Nazis to power.
Overview
German football was, from its beginnings, divided into regional associations, which carried out their own championship, which often pre-dated the national German championshipGerman football champions
The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Germany. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of the 20th century.Brought to the country by English...
. With the interception of the later in 1903, the former became qualifying tournaments for it but these regional championships still held a high value for the local clubs. These regional championships were:
- Southern German football championshipSouthern German football championshipThe Southern German football championship was the highest association football competition in the South of Germany, established in 1898...
- formed in 1898 - Brandenburg football championship - formed in 1898
- Central German football championshipCentral German football championshipThe Central German football championship was the highest association football competition in Central Germany, in what is now the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, established in 1902...
- formed in 1902 - Western German football championshipWestern German football championshipThe Western German football championship was the highest association football competition in Western Germany, in the Prussian Province of Westphalia, the Rhine Province, the northern parts of the province of Hesse-Nassau as well as the Principality of Lippe, later to become the Free State of Lippe...
- formed in 1903 - March football championship - existed from 1903 to 1911
- Northern German football championshipNorthern German football championshipThe Northern German football championship , operated by Norddeutscher Fußball-Verband , was the highest association football competition in Northern Germany, in the Prussian provinces of Schleswig-Holstein and Hanover and the German states of Hamburg, Lübeck, Mecklenburg-Schwerin,...
- formed in 1906 - South Eastern German football championshipSouth Eastern German football championshipThe South Eastern German football championship was the highest association football competition in the Prussian provinces of Silesia, which was divided into the Province of Lower Silesia and the Province of Upper Silesia after 1919, and Posen, which mostly became part of Poland in 1919...
- formed in 1906 - Baltic football championshipBaltic football championshipThe Baltic football championship was the highest association football competition in the Prussian provinces of East Prussia, Pomerania and West Prussia. The competition was disbanded in 1933....
- formed in 1908
All this regional championships were suspended with the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933. At the end of the Second World War, some resumed, now in league format. Others completely disappeared, like the Baltic championship, as the territories they were held in were not part of Germany any more. With the South West German football championship, a new regional competition also appeared in 1945. Ultimately, with the formation of the Fußball-Bundesliga
Fußball-Bundesliga
The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...
, all this regional championships ceased altogether.
Background
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, except for the areas east of the Oder-Neisse line
Oder-Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
, which are now part of 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...
. Berlin was separated politically from it in 1881 and largely expanded through the Greater Berlin Act
Greater Berlin Act
The Greater Berlin Act , in full the Law Regarding the Reconstruction of the New Local Authority of Berlin , was a law passed by the Prussian government in 1920 that greatly expanded the size of the German capital of Berlin.-History:...
of 1920. As football is concerned, the clubs from city of Berlin were part of, and as a matter of fact, the most dominating factor in the Brandenburg football championship. The outcome of the First World War and the conversion of Prussia to a Free State
Free State of Prussia (1918-1933)
The Free State of Prussia was a German state formed after the abolition of the Kingdom of Prussia in the aftermath of World War I. It was the major state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic, comprising almost 5/8 of its territory and population...
had little influence on the competition, unlike other regions of Germany, Brandenburg lost no territory.
Football association
In the late 1890s, a number of local football associations were formed in the Berlin and Brandenburg region, most of them short lived.The Verband Deutscher Ballspielvereine, a Berlin-based association of German football clubs was formed on 11 September 1897. In May 1902, it renamed itself Verband Berliner Ballspielvereine to reflect its geographical alignment.
From 1903 to 1911, the Märkischer Fußball-Bund and its league, named after the Mittelmark
Mittelmark
Mittelmark is a historical region in present-day eastern Germany that was the core territory of the Margraviate of Brandenburg between the Oder and Elbe rivers....
, existed in parallel with the league of the Verband Berliner Ballspielvereine and both send their champions to the German football championship. In April 1911, the two associations merged to form the Verband Brandenburgischer Ballspielvereine.
In 1933, after the rise of the Nazis to power, the Verband Brandenburgischer Ballspielvereine was disbanded, like all other regional football associations in Germany.
1898–1911
The Brandenburg football championship was first played in 1898, when eight clubs competed in a league format for it. The number of games played by each team varied greatly but the top four clubs each played nine season games with the top three ending up on equal points. To determine the champion, a two leg decider was played between Britannia Berlin and BFC Preussen with the former winning both games and earning its first league title. In its second edition, only six clubs participated, all from the city of Berlin and this time each club played an equal amount of games. Because of the top two teams finishing on equal points, a final had to be played once more, this time BFC Preussen coming out the winner.Expanded to nine clubs for 1900, the league champion won the Brandenburg title outright at this edition, BFC Preussen winning all of its 16 games. The following season, only seven clubs took part in the competition but for 1902 it was expanded to twelve teams in two divisions of six, with the two divisional winners playing out the Brandenburg champions. The finals were held in a two leg format but because each team won one game, a third match had to be held to decide the winner. For 1903, the league returned to a single division format, now with eight clubs. Additionally, the league received some local competition with the March football championship being introduced, organised by the rival Märkischer Fußball-Bund. Also, the German football championship was held for the first time, with the Brandenburg champion, Britannia Berlin, losing 1-3 against VfB Leipzig, who went on to win the title.
Unchanged in format and modus, the league winner was once more Britannia Berlin with the club reaching the final of the German championship, too. Because of a protest by the Karlsruher FV
Karlsruher FV
Karlsruher FV is a German association football club that plays in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg. Established on 17 November 1891, KFV was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900. The team went on to capture the national championship in 1910 with a 1–0 victory over Holstein Kiel...
, who had lost 1-6 to Britannia in the first round in Berlin and rightfully claimed all games were supposed to be staged on neutral ground, the final in Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
was canceled hours before the game.
In 1905, the Union 92 Berlin took out the title in a competition that remained otherwise unchanged from the previous two seasons and then went on to become the first club from Berlin to win a German championship, beating Karlsruher FV in the final. The 1906 edition saw BFC Hertha 92, the later Hertha BSC, win the league and become one of three Berlin clubs in the German finals, alongside defending champions Union 92 and the March league winner SV Norden-Nordwest, without any of the three making it to the final.
In 1907, the league winners of the Verband Berliner Ballspielvereine and the Märkischer Fußball-Bund agreed on playing a one-off final for an overall Berlin championship, which BFC Viktoria 1889 won. Viktoria then went on to reach the German final but lost to southern champions Freiburger FC
Freiburger FC
Freiburger FC is a German association football club based in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg. Freiburger FC was a founding Clubs of the DFB in 1900.-History:...
. The following year saw almost a complete repeat but this time Viktoria won the German final, beating Stuttgarter Kickers
Stuttgarter Kickers
Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers...
3-0.
The 1909 season saw an expansion of the league to nine clubs and a refusal of the Verband Berliner Ballspielvereine to stage a Berlin final for financial reasons; it did not want the Märkischer Fußball-Bund to profit financially from the games. Because of this, both league champions were allowed at the German finals but Viktoria lost 2-4 to Phönix Karlsruhe in the final game. In 1910, the two rival leagues continued their stand-off and the March champion, SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin, actually reached the semi-finals of the national championship while BFC Preussen was knocked out in the first round.
The 1911 season was the last of the split, the situation remaining unchanged during the season and Viktoria taking out the Brandenburg and German title. At the end of it, the two associations merged and formed the Verband Brandenburgischer Ballspielvereine.
1911–1924
With only one football association in the region, made up of two leagues, the Brandenburg championship was staged in 1912 in two divisions of ten clubs each with a two-leg final between the league winners at the end. In the final years before the First World War the Brandenburg champions could not reach a German final again and from 1914 to 1920, the German championship was suspended in any case. On local level, the league returned to a single division of ten clubs in 1913 and kept this format until 1917.In 1918 and 1919, the league was expanded to 18 clubs, an extraordinary number in German football in those days when most leagues were at a strength of ten to twelve teams. Brandenburg did not, unlike most other German regions, interrupt play during the war and continued its competition. The 1920 season was an oddity, only half completed when Union Oberschöneweide was declared the winner.
The 1921 edition saw a return to a more common format with two divisions of six clubs each, with a two-leg final at the end. Brandenburg champion Vorwärts Berlin reached the German final, losing 0-5 to 1. FC Nuremberg. The two division were expanded to eleven clubs in one and ten in the other for 1922 and, with Union Potsdam, contained a club from outside of Greater Berlin for the first time. For 1923, both divisions operated on a strength of ten clubs, now renamed Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg
Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg
The Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg was the highest association football competition in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, including Berlin, from 1923 to 1933...
, and champions Union Oberschöneweide reached the national final, losing 0-3 to Hamburger SV
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein, usually referred to as HSV in Germany and Hamburg in international parlance, is a German multi-sport club based in Hamburg, its largest branch being its football department...
. After an unchanged 1924 season, from 1925 onwards the league saw the rise of Hertha BSC as a dominating team in Brandenburg and Germany.
1925–1933
Hertha BSC was to win the league seven consecutive times from 1925 to 1931, the last four of those by beating Tennis Borussia Berlin in the final, laying the foundations to a still existing rivalry. While the club bowed out of the German finals in the semi-finals of 1925 against FSV FrankfurtFSV Frankfurt
FSV Frankfurt is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. The club plays in the shadow of larger and much more successful Eintracht Frankfurt, which has recently returned to 2nd tier football...
, losing 0-1 in extra time, it also dominated German football in this era, to a lesser extend. Hertha reached the final of every German championship from 1926 to 1931, losing in 1926, 1927, 1928 and 1929, to SpVgg Fürth, 1. FC Nuremberg, Hamburger SV and Fürth again.
From 1925, an expanded finals round also meant, that Brandenburg was allowed to send the championship finalist to the national title games as well. The Brandenburg championship was again split into two divisions of ten teams from 1926, with finals at the end, a format it maintained until 1933. From 1931, the Pommeranian champions, previously part of the Baltic football championship, took part in a four team final round that also included the Berlin Cup
Berlin Cup
The Berliner Landespokal is an annual football cup competition held by the Berlin Football Association . The cup winner qualifies for the national DFB-Pokal. Cup finals are usually held in the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. The competition has been held since 1906, with various interruptions...
winner.
After four unsuccessful attempts, Hertha finally won a national title in 1930, beating Holstein Kiel
Holstein Kiel
Holstein Kiel is a German association football and sports club based in the city of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. Through the 1910s and 1920s the club was a dominant side in northern Germany winning six regional titles and finishing as runners-up another six times...
5-4 in the final. The season after, it repeated this achievement by beating TSV 1860 Munich 3-2.
The 1932 season saw the end of Hertha's seven-year run, the club came second in its division and missed out on taking part in the Brandenburg finals. This title was won by Tennis Borussia Berlin, for the first time after four unsuccessful attempts in series; but Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt
Eintracht Frankfurt is a German sports club, based in Frankfurt, Hesse that is best known for its association football club.- Club origins :...
stopped TB in the quarter finals of the national title games.
The last Brandenburg championship in 1933 was won by Hertha BSC once more, but the clubs golden age had gone and it made a first round exit to SV Hindenburg Allenstein
SV Hindenburg Allenstein
SV Hindenburg Allenstein was a German football club from the city of Allenstein, East Prussia .The club was formed in 1921 as Sportvereinigung Hindenburg Allenstein and was named for German Field Marshal and Reichs President Paul von Hindenburg. Sometime in 1935 it became a military side and played...
at the national finals.
Aftermath
The Brandenburg championship was replaced with the Gauliga Berlin-BrandenburgGauliga Berlin-Brandenburg
The Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg was the highest football league in the provinces of Brandenburg and Berlin in the German state of Prussia from 1933 to 1945...
by the Nazis in 1933, one of 16 new tier-one football leagues in the country. In the era that followed, the clubs from Brandenburg had little success and none ever reached a German championship final again until the introduction of the Fußball-Bundesliga in 1963, which did away with the finals games altogether.
A competition similar to the Brandenburg football championship never reformed. After the end of the Second World War, Germany remained divided until 1991 and the former clubs of this competition played in separate countries. Clubs from both parts of Berlin played in the same competition, the Oberliga Berlin
Oberliga Berlin (1945-63)
The Oberliga Berlin was the highest level of the German football league system in the city of West-Berlin in Germany from 1945 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It was by far the smallest of the five Oberligas.-Overview:...
until 1950, but it did not include clubs from the rest of Brandenburg. After the reunion, the clubs from what was East Germany joined the united German football league system
German football league system
The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation...
, but a competition that only includes clubs from Brandenburg and Berlin was not recreated.
Brandenburg football champions
German champions in bold:
|
|
- 1 Club from the rival Märkischer Fußball-Bund league.
March football championship
The championship of the Märkischer Fußball-Bund was held from 1903 to 1911, resulting in the following champions:| Season | Winner |
| 1903 | Vorwärts Berlin |
| 1904 | Weissensee 1900 |
| 1905 | BFC Alemannia 90 Wacker |
| 1906 | SV Norden-Nordwest |
| 1907 | BFC Alemannia 90 Wacker |
| 1908 | SV Norden-Nordwest |
| 1909 | SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin |
| 1910 | SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin |
| 1911 | SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin |
Finals
The Brandenburg championship was not always decided by a final. In some seasons, a final was necessary because two clubs finished on equal points at the top of the table. In two seasons, a final was played against the winner of a rival competition. In most cases where a final was played, it was when the league was split into two divisions and the division winners played for the Brandenburg championship.| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | Result | Date | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 | Britannia Berlin | BFC Preussen | 1-0 / 3-1 | |||
| 1898 | BFC Preussen | BFC Viktoria 1889 | 0-0 / 3-2 aet | |||
| 1902 | BFC Viktoria 1889 | Britannia Berlin | 5-2 / 1-2 / 5-1 | |||
| 1907 | BFC Viktoria 1889 | BFC Alemannia 90 Wacker | 5-0 | |||
| 1908 | BFC Viktoria 1889 | SV Norden-Nordwest | 4-3 | |||
| 1912 | BFC Preussen | BFC Viktoria 1889 | 2-1 / 2-1 | |||
| 1921 | Vorwärts Berlin | BFC Preussen | 2-0 / 1-2 | |||
| 1922 | SV Norden-Nordwest | SCC Berlin | 4-2 / 1-0 | 10 & 14 May 1922 | ||
| 1923 | Union Oberschöneweide | Vorwärts Berlin | 3-1 / 1-1 | 1 & 22 April 1923 | ||
| 1924 | BFC Alemannia 90 Wacker | SV Norden-Nordwest | 3-1 / 2-2 | 27 April & 4 May 1924 | ||
| 1925 | Hertha BSC | BFC Alemannia 90 Wacker | 3-1 / 3-2 | 8 & 29 March 1925 | ||
| 1926 | Hertha BSC | SV Norden-Nordwest | 7-0 / 2-1 | 2 & 8 May 1926 | ||
| 1927 | Hertha BSC | BSC Kickers 1900 | 4-1 / 6-2 | 10 & 24 April 1927 | ||
| 1928 | Hertha BSC | Tennis Borussia Berlin | 3-1 / 1-2 / 4-0 | 4 March & 18 March & 15 April 1928 | ||
| 1929 | Hertha BSC | Tennis Borussia Berlin | 1-0 / 0-1 / 5-2 | 7 April & 14 April & 26 May 1929 | ||
| 1930 | Hertha BSC | Tennis Borussia Berlin | 3-1 / 2-0 | 27 April & 4 May 1930 |
Further reading
- Stürmen für Deutschland: Die Geschichte des deutschen Fußballs von 1933, publisher: Campus Verlag
Sources
- Fussball-Jahrbuch Deutschland (8 vol.), Tables and results of the German tier-one leagues 1919-33, publisher: DSFS
- Kicker Almanach, The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports MagazineKicker (sports magazine)kicker Sportmagazin is Germany's leading sports magazine and is focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice a week, usually Monday and Thursday, in Nuremberg...
External links
The Gauligas Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv German league tables 1892-1933 Hirschi's Fussball seiten- Germany - Championships 1902-1945 at RSSSF.com