Central German football championship

Central German football championship
Founded
1902
Disbanded
1933
Nation
German Empire 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...
Germany 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 Region Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...
Central Germany, Duderstadt Duderstadt Duderstadt is a city in southern Lower Saxony, Germany, located in the district of Göttingen. It is the center and capital of the northern part of the Eichsfeld... , Neustadt bei Coburg Neustadt bei Coburg Neustadt bei Coburg is a town in the district of Coburg in northern Bavaria, Germany. It is situated 15 km northeast of Coburg, as its name indicates.-Local sudivisions:...
Number of Seasons
31
Replaced by
Gauliga Mitte Gauliga Mitte The Gauliga Mitte was the highest football league in the Prussian province of Saxony and the German states of Thuringia and Anhalt from 1933 to 1945, all located in the center of Germany...
Gauliga Sachsen Gauliga Sachsen The Gauliga Saxony was the highest football league in the German state of Saxony from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau Saxony replaced the state Saxony.-Overview:The league was introduced in 1933,...
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...
Last Champions 1932-33
Dresdner SC Dresdner SC Dresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900...

The Central German football championship (German: Mitteldeutsche Fußball Meisterschaft) was the highest association football competition in Central Germany, in what is now the federal states

States of Germany

Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

of Saxony

Saxony

The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....

, Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt

Saxony-Anhalt is a landlocked state of Germany. Its capital is Magdeburg and it is surrounded by the German states of Lower Saxony, Brandenburg, Saxony, and Thuringia.Saxony-Anhalt covers an area of...

and Thuringia

Thuringia

The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

, established in 1902. 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 championship

German 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 championship
Southern German football championship
The Southern German football championship was the highest association football competition in the South of Germany, established in 1898...

- formed in 1898
Brandenburg football championship
Brandenburg football championship
The Brandenburg football championship was the highest association football competition in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, including Berlin, established in 1898...

- formed in 1898
Central German football championship - formed in 1902
Western German football championship
Western German football championship
The 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 championship
Northern German football championship
The 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 championship
South Eastern German football championship
The 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 championship
Baltic football championship
The 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

When the Central German championship was established in 1902, the region of Central Germany (German: Mitteldeutschland) was politically divided into a number of territories, the Prussian

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

province of Saxony and the Kingdom of the same name being by far the largest:

Duchy of Anhalt
Anhalt
Anhalt was a sovereign county in Germany, located between the Harz Mountains and the river Elbe in Middle Germany. It now forms part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.- Dukes of Anhalt :...
Kingdom of Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
Province of Saxony
Province of Saxony
The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
The Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was created in 1809 by the merger of the Ernestine duchies of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach. It was raised to a Grand duchy in 1815 by resolution of the Vienna Congress. In 1877, it officially changed its name to the Grand Duchy of Saxony , but this name was...
Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen
Saxe-Meiningen
The Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia....
Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Altenburg was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty in present-day Thuringia.-History:The duchy originated from the medieval Burgraviate of Altenburg in the Imperial Pleissnerland , a possession of the Wettin Margraves of Meissen since 1243...
Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha or Saxe-Coburg-Gotha served as the collective name of two duchies, Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, in Germany. They were located in what today are the states of Bavaria and Thuringia, respectively, and the two were in personal union between 1826 and 1918...
Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with capital at Sondershausen.-History:...
Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was a small historic state in present-day Thuringia, Germany with its capital at Rudolstadt.-History:Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was established in 1599 in the course of a resettlement of Schwarzburg dynasty lands...
Imperial County of Reuss

With the defeat of the German Empire

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...

in 1918 and the formation of a Republic, the former Kingdoms and Duchies became states. The number of small states in the Thuringia region formed the new state of that name, with the exception of Coburg

Coburg

Coburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920...

, which joined Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

. The new states and provinces were:

Free State of Anhalt
Free State of Anhalt
The Free State of Anhalt was formed after Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt abdicated on 12 November 1918, ending the Duchy of Anhalt. It was a state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic...
Free State of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
Province of Saxony
Province of Saxony
The Province of Saxony was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1945. Its capital was Magdeburg.-History:The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories:...
Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....

Football association

From 1897, a number of local football associations started up, the first of those being the Verband Leipziger Ballspielvereine in Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

. In late 1900, the Verband Mitteldeutscher Ballspiel Vereine followed, three month later, the Verband Dresdner Ballspiel-Vereine was formed in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

. In August 1903, the Verband Chemnitzer Ballspielvereine was formed in Chemnitz

Chemnitz

Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...

and, last, the Verband Plauener Ballspielvereine came into existence in Plauen

Plauen

Plauen is a town in the Free State of Saxony, east-central Germany.It is the capital of the Vogtlandkreis. The town is situated near the border of Bavaria and the Czech Republic.Plauen's slogan is Plauen - echt Spitze.-History:...

. In 1933, all of those were disbanded by the Nazis.

1902 to 1919

The Central German football championship was first played in 1902, but little is known about the first year other than the final. The championship was staged as a knockout competition with a one-leg final at the end. Regional champions were determined to establish who the qualified clubs for the Central German championship were.

In 1903, in the second year of the competition, a German football championship was established, for which the Central champion was qualified. The team, VfB Leipzig achieved distinction by becoming the first German champions, defeating DFC Prag

DFC Prag

The Deutscher Fussball Club Prag was a German association football club that played in the city of Prague in what is today the Czech Republic, but was at the time of the club's founding on 25 May 1896, part of Bohemia in the Austro-Hungarian Empire...

7-2 in the final and establishing Central Germany as an early power house of German football. VfB became the dominant side in the pre-First World War era of the competition, also winning another German title in 1906 and 1913 and making a losing appearance in the 1911 and 1914 final. No other club from Central Germany enjoyed a similar form of success and not until the Dresdner SC

Dresdner SC

Dresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900...

in 1943 and 1944 did another club from the region win the national title.

From 1903, three teams took part in the championship, the champions of the Leipzig, Dresden and Magdeburg region. This was expanded to four teams when the champion of the Chemnitz area joined the Central German championship. From 1908, seven teams competed in the annual finals, making it necessary to establish a quarter-final round. In 1910, the competition was expanded to nine teams, the year after to twelve and in 1912 to fifteen. In its last pre-war season, 1914, 21 clubs participated, making a qualifying round necessary.

In 1913, a different system was used, splitting the region in two groups according to their playing strength. The winners of the two then met in a final, which was predictably won by the team from the stronger group. In 1914-15, competitive football was only played regionally and no German or Central German championship was carried out, the war having its effect on the game.

During the war years, until 1919, eleven clubs played each season for the Central German championship but national title games were not held.

1920 to 1933

In 1920, a new modus was employed to determine the Central champion. A group stage of six clubs, which played each other once, determined the winner. For the first time, no final game was held. The following season, the group stage was expanded to seven clubs, which was also the case in 1922.

In 1923, the championship returned to a knock out system with seven clubs participating. This was drastically expanded to 27 clubs for 1924 because of the fragmented nature of the league system in Central Germany with a large number of local competitions. While subject to changes, the number of tier-one leagues operating in the region at that time stood at 27, compare to five in the larger and more successful region of Southern Germany at the time. This system remained in place until 1928, when only 26 took part. The season after, 1929, 27 clubs entered again. The following years, the number of clubs kept fluctuating around the strength of 25, depending on the number of leagues in the Gaue, the local geographical subdivisions in the region.

From 1925, the runners-up, later the Central German cup winner instead, were qualified for the expanded German championship, too.

Aftermath

The Central German championship was replaced with the Gauliga Mitte

Gauliga Mitte

The Gauliga Mitte was the highest football league in the Prussian province of Saxony and the German states of Thuringia and Anhalt from 1933 to 1945, all located in the center of Germany...

and Gauliga Sachsen

Gauliga Sachsen

The Gauliga Saxony was the highest football league in the German state of Saxony from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau Saxony replaced the state Saxony.-Overview:The league was introduced in 1933,...

by the Nazis in 1933, two of 16 new tier-one football leagues in the country. In the era that followed, the clubs from Central Germany saw an improvement in their performance, which can be attributed to the de-fragmentation of league football in the region and the increased playing strength of the two new leagues. A Central German championship was never held again.

After the end of the Second World War, Germany remained divided until 1991 and the former top-clubs of this competition, under new names, played in the DDR-Oberliga

DDR-Oberliga

The DDR-Oberliga was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR , being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga or Bundesliga in West Germany.-Overview:Following World...

as part of the East German league system. 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...

and the closest a competition now comes to covering the area of the former Central German championship is the tier-five NOFV-Oberliga Süd

NOFV-Oberliga Süd

The NOFV-Oberliga Süd is the fifth tier of the German football league system in the southern states of former East Germany. Until the introduction of the 3rd Liga in 2008, it was the fourth tier of the league system. It covers the German states of Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony...