German football championship 1945/46

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German football championship 1945/46
← German championship 1944/45

The German football championship was not played in 1945/46. Nonetheless, game operations have already started in the four occupation zones and zone championships have been played out in some cases .

history

After the end of the world war, the zero hour began for football in Germany . Germany was now divided into four zones of occupation , one American, one British, one French and one Soviet; then came Berlin with its four-power status. This political organization in Germany also formed the framework for the new beginning in German football. This proceeded very differently in the individual occupation zones, depending on which role the respective occupying powers assigned to sport or football in the “re-education” of the population. While the Americans and French were more positive about the new beginning, the British, and especially the Soviets, saw football clubs as a refuge of old sentiments; accordingly this was different.

All sports federations and clubs in Germany were banned in May 1945 by a resolution of the Allied Control Council ; initially, sport was only allowed in municipal sports groups. After clubs were re-admitted, initially only new clubs could be registered; Traditional clubs usually had to show a lot of patience before they were re-admitted under their old name. Many clubs therefore initially played under a different name. Some clubs then kept the name change, others later returned to the old club name.

American zone

The American occupation zone was particularly progressive , where - with the exception of Bremen - a zone-wide league, the Oberliga Süd , was established. This league was not only the largest league in German football in terms of its catchment area, the league strength of 16 clubs was also well above the standard of 10 to 12 teams that had been customary in Germany at that time. It borders on a miracle that the league was able to fully manage its game program in view of the difficult conditions in the immediate post-war period. The first champion of this league and thus also the first American zone champion was VfB Stuttgart just before 1. FC Nürnberg . Since the Americans implemented the Control Council resolution of 1945 only half-heartedly, the traditional associations were reactivated very quickly.

French zone

In the French zone , too, a major league was introduced in the first post-war season, but according to the geographical layout of the zone, it played in two seasons, a north season for the Saarland / Rhineland-Palatinate area and a south season for the south Baden / southern Württemberg area. Hohenzollern . However, the league strength with seven to ten teams was within the range of the usual; In addition, the season south played in two groups and Württemberg-Hohenzollern was not involved in sport this season. The zone master was determined in two final games of the two season winners and was called 1. FC Saarbrücken , which was able to seamlessly build on his successes in the last years of the war under the name FV Saarbrücken.

British zone

The situation was very different in the British zone . The reorganization of football turned out to be considerably more difficult here. Also, depending on the views of the respective commanders in charge, league games could mostly only be established at local or, more rarely, district level. In West Germany, after a few difficulties, SG Düren 99 and Rot-Weiß Oberhausen champions were chosen for the districts of Middle Rhine and Lower Rhine and in Westphalia a two-tier district league was even set up, with the season winners FC Schalke 04 and SpVgg Erkenschwick not having a final held the district championship. In northern Germany, as a rule, it was only determined at the local level. There were city championships in Osnabrück , Bremen and Hamburg with the masters TuS Haste , Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV , the Oberliga Niedersachsen Süd had a slightly larger catchment area , which played with 10 clubs and saw TSV Braunschweig (short-term name of Eintracht Braunschweig ) as champions . Teutonia Uelzen became champions in East Hanover. In Schleswig-Holstein there were only championships in smaller districts. In the north district, the ATSV Flensburg (merged in 1973 to form TSB Flensburg, which is now involved in the handball Bundesliga club SG Flensburg-Handewitt ), and VfB Lübeck in the south ; Eckernförder SV (before Holstein Kiel ) was determined in the East A district and FC Kilia Kiel in the East B district as champions. How difficult it was to deal with the occupation authorities is shown by the attempt by the North German clubs to host a North German championship: it was banned by the British and had to be canceled in the quarter-finals.

Soviet zone

There was no regular game operation in the Soviet zone . A league game was not allowed. It was not until the 1946/47 season that a new start in football began in the Soviet zone. The decision of the Control Council was implemented with particular consistency, which is why many historical names disappeared completely, only a few were revived after 1989.

Berlin

The situation in Berlin with its four-power status was somewhat different. The 67 teams from the Berlin urban area were initially divided into four geographically separated groups in autumn 1945. The group winners should then determine the Berlin soccer champions. The division purely according to geographic location (instead of sporting strength), however, led to a large number of one-sided pairings. For this reason, gaming operations were restarted in December 1945. Only the best 36 of the 67 participating syndicates were again divided into four groups, this time according to sporting strength, so that the individual groups now extended over the entire city area. The four season winners then played the Berlin city champions in a final round . The SG Wilmersdorf became the first post-war champion . For several years in Berlin, sport was only possible in the municipal sport groups. Traditional clubs were sporadically re-admitted only from 1949 onwards; from 1950 this development was limited to West Berlin.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official Journal of the Control Council Directive No. 23 Accessed April 27, 2013