| Deutsche Fußballmeisterschaft | |
|---|---|
 Replica of theViktoria trophy | |
| Tournament details | |
| Country | Germany |
| Dates | 6 April – 22 June |
| Teams | 20 |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | Rapid Wien 1stGerman title |
| Runners-up | Schalke 04 |
| Third place | Dresdner SC |
| Fourth place | VfL Köln 99 |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 56 |
| Goals scored | 248 (4.43 per match) |
| Top goal scorer | Hermann Eppenhoff(15 goals) |
The 1941German football championship, the 34th edition of the competition, was won bySK Rapid Wien, the club's sole German championship. Rapid, which had previously won twelveAustrian football championships between 1911 and 1938 as well as the1938 German Cup, won the competition by defeatingSchalke 04 4–3 in the final.[1][2][3] The final was held on 22 June 1941, the same dayNazi Germany invaded theSoviet Union inOperation Barbarossa.[4]
FC Schalke 04, having won five of the previous seven finals, being the defending champions and aiming for an unprecedented third consecutive German championship, were the favourites and led the final 3–0 after 57 minutes but Rapid scored four unanswered goals, the last three of them byFranz Binder, to win the championship.[5] It marked the second of three occasions of a club fromVienna (German:Wien) in the final, Rapid becoming the only one to win the competition whileAdmira Wien had made a losing appearance in the1939 final andFirst Vienna FC would do the same in1942.[1] Austrian clubs had played in the German league system from 1938, after theAnschluss, until theGerman surrender in 1945.[6]
Rapid's victory led to a number of conspiracy theories. On Schalke's side it was speculated that Rapid was allowed to win to award a national championship to a club from theOstmark while, in Austria, the theory developed that Rapid players were punished after the final by being sent to thefront line. Both theories were disproven when Rapid, in 2009, commissioned a study into the history of the club during the Nazi era and found no evidence for either.[7] Rapid continues to list both German titles, the 1941 championship and the 1938 cup win, in its honours.[8]
Schalke'sHermann Eppenhoff became the top scorer of the 1941 championship with 15 goals, the highest individual amount for any player in the history of the competition from 1903 to 1963.[9]
The twenty1940–41Gauliga champions, two more than in1940 because of the addition of theGauliga Elsaß andGauliga Danzig-Westpreußen,[10] competed in a group stage with the four group winners advancing to the semi-finals. The two semi-final winners then contested the 1941 championship final. The groups were divided into two with four clubs and two with six clubs with the latter, in turn, subdivided into two groups of three teams each and a final of these group winners to determine the overall group champions.[11]
In the following season, the German championship was played with twenty five clubs. From there it gradually expanded further through a combination of territorial expansion ofNazi Germany and the sub-dividing of the Gauligas in later years, reaching a strength of thirty one in its last completed season, 1943–44.[10]
The teams qualified through the1940–41 Gauliga season:[11]
Group 1A was contested by the champions of the Gauligas Danzig-Westpreußen, Pommern and Schlesien:[11]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Qualification | VRG | LSV | DAN | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vorwärts-Rasensport Gleiwitz | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 5 | 1.800 | 5 | Advance togroup final | — | 3–1 | 4–1 | |
| 2 | LSV Stettin | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 9 | 0.889 | 4 | 3–2 | — | 1–1 | ||
| 3 | Preußen Danzig | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 0.625 | 3 | 0–0 | 3–3 | — |
Group 1B was contested by the champions of the Gauligas Brandenburg, Sachsen and Sudetenland:[11]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Qualification | DRE | TBB | PRA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dresdner SC | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 2.750 | 8 | Advance togroup final | — | 5–2 | 4–2 | |
| 2 | Tennis Borussia Berlin | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 0.714 | 3 | 0–1 | — | 3–1 | ||
| 3 | NSTG Prag | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 0.375 | 1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | — |
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dresdner SC | 6–0 | Vorwärts-Rasensport Gleiwitz | 3–0 | 3–0 |
Group 2A was contested by the champions of the Gauligas Mitte, Nordmark and Ostpreußen:[11]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Qualification | HSV | SVJ | KON | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hamburger SV | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 5 | 1.800 | 7 | Advance togroup final | — | 2–1 | 3–1 | |
| 2 | 1. SV Jena | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 1.125 | 3 | 2–2 | — | 2–4 | ||
| 3 | VfB Königsberg | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 0.545 | 2 | 1–2 | 0–4 | — |
Group 2B was contested by the champions of the Gauligas Hessen, Niedersachsen and Westfalen:[11]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Qualification | S04 | H96 | FUL | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Schalke 04 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 | 8.000 | 8 | Advance togroup final | — | 4–0 | 4–0 | |
| 2 | Hannover 96 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 0.667 | 2 | 1–6 | — | 6–1 | ||
| 3 | Borussia Fulda | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 0.400 | 2 | 1–2 | 4–3 | — |
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schalke 04 | 3–1 | Hamburger SV | 3–0 | 0–1 |
Group 3 was contested by the champions of the Gauligas Elsaß, Mittelrhein, Niederrhein and Südwest:[11]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Qualification | K99 | KOF | HEA | M93 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VfL Köln | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 12 | 1.583 | 9 | Advance tosemi-finals | — | 3–1 | 3–1 | 6–1 | |
| 2 | Kickers Offenbach | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 9 | 2.111 | 8 | 2–2 | — | 1–1 | 5–1 | ||
| 3 | Helene Altenessen | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 13 | 1.154 | 6 | 6–1 | 0–4 | — | 5–2 | ||
| 4 | FC Mülhausen | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 28 | 0.321 | 1 | 1–4 | 2–6 | 2–2 | — |
Group 4 was contested by the champions of the Gauligas Bayern, Baden, Ostmark and Württemberg:[11]
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GR | Pts | Qualification | RWI | M60 | SKI | NEC | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rapid Wien | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 24 | 5 | 4.800 | 9 | Advance tosemi-finals | — | 2–0 | 1–1 | 8–1 | |
| 2 | 1860 Munich | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 11 | 1.273 | 7 | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | 6–2 | ||
| 3 | Stuttgarter Kickers | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 16 | 0.688 | 4 | 1–5 | 3–3 | — | 2–0 | ||
| 4 | VfL Neckarau | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 27 | 0.370 | 4 | 0–7 | 2–1 | 5–3 | — |
Three of the four clubs in the 1941 semi-finals had reached the same stage in the previous season, Rapid Wien, Dresdner SC and FC Schalke 04, while VfL Köln 99 replacedSV Waldhof Mannheim in comparison to 1940:[12]
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 8 June 1941[13] | ||
| SK Rapid Wien | 2–1 | Dresdner SC |
| Schalke 04 | 4–1 | VfL Köln 99 |
| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
|---|---|---|
| 22 June 1941[14] | ||
| Dresdner SC | 4–1 | VfL Köln 99 |
| SK Rapid Wien | 4–3 | Schalke 04 |
|---|---|---|
Schors 60'Binder 62' 65' (pen.) 71' | Report | Hinz 5' 58' Eppenhoff 8' |
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