District champions were initially determined in the districts of Cologne, Lower Rhine and Rhine / Ruhr. The three district champions determined the West German champions in the league system.
Hardy Greens : Encyclopedia of German League Football. Volume 1: From the Crown Prince to the Bundesliga. 1890 to 1963. German championship, Gauliga, Oberliga. Numbers, pictures, stories. Agon-Sportverlag, Kassel 1996, ISBN 3-928562-85-1 , p. 20.