 | |
| Founded | 1933 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1945 |
| Replaced by | Oberliga |
| Country |  Germany |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| Domestic cup | Tschammerpokal |
| Last champions | Dresdner SC (1943–44) |
AGauliga (German pronunciation:[ˈɡaʊˌliːɡa]) was the highest level of play inGerman football from 1933 to 1945. The leagues were introduced in 1933, after theNazi takeover of power by theNational Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise.
TheGerman wordGauliga is composed ofGau, approximately meaning county or region, andLiga, or league. The plural isGauligen. While the name Gauliga is not in use in German football any more, mainly because it is attached to the Nazi past, some sports in Germany still have Gauligen, likegymnastics andfaustball.
The Gauligen were formed in 1933 to replace the previously existingBezirksligas inWeimar Germany. TheNazis initially introduced 16 regional Gauligen, some of them subdivided into groups. The introduction of the Gauligen was part of theGleichschaltung process, whereby the Nazis completely revamped the domestic administration. The Gauligen were largely formed along the newGaue, designed to replace the old German states, likePrussia andBavaria, and therefore gain better control over the country.
This step came as a disappointment to many more forward thinking football officials, like the Germany national team managersOtto Nerz andSepp Herberger,[1] who had hoped for aReichsliga, a unified highest competition for all of Germany, like the ones already in place in countries likeItaly (Serie A) andEngland (The Football League). Shortly before the Nazis came to power, the DFB started to seriously consider the establishment of such a national league. In a special session on 28 and 29 May 1933, a decision was to be made on the establishment of the Reichsliga as a professional league. Four weeks before that date, the session was cancelled, professionalism and Nazi ideology did not agree with each other.[2] With the disappointing performance of the German team at the1938 FIFA World Cup, the debate about a Reichsliga was reopened. In August 1939, a meeting was to be held to decide on the creation of a league system of six Gauligen as a transition stage to the Reichsliga, but the outbreak of theSecond World War shortly after ended this debate, too.[2] In reality, this step was not taken until 1963, when theBundesliga was formed, for similar reason, after the disappointing performance at the1962 FIFA World Cup.[3] It did, however, reduce the number of clubs in top leagues in the country considerably, from roughly 600 to 170.[4]
Beginning in 1935, with the re-admittance of theSaarland into Germany, the country and the leagues began to expand. With the aggressive expansion politics, and later, through theSecond World War, Germany grew considerably in size. New or regained territories were incorporated intoNazi Germany. In those regions incorporated into Germany, new Gauligen were formed.[5]
With the outbreak of the Second World War, football continued but competitions were reduced in size as many players were drafted to the GermanWehrmacht. Most Gauligen split into subgroups to reduce travel, which became increasingly more difficult as the war went on.
Many clubs had to merge or form Kriegsgemeinschaften (war associations) due to lack of players. The competition became increasingly flawed as the list of available players to a club fluctuated on a weekly basis, depending on who was where at a time.
The last season, 1944–45, was never completed, as large parts of Germany were already underallied occupation and theGerman unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945 ended all sports competitions, the last official match having been played on 23 April.
Unlike most leagues today, where income is generated from sponsors and TV in addition to ticket sales, the Gauliga teams relied on ticket sales as the exclusive source of income. But while in today's leagues the hosting teams keep the cash from the ticket sales, this was handled differently in the Gauligen. In the regular season, in cup matches or other competitive matches, the money was shared between theGerman Football Association, who received 5% of the income; the hosting club; and the visiting club. In particular, the hosting club received 10% for using their ground and 5% for administrative costs. The remaining 75% of the matchday income was shared between the two clubs. These relations changed for the play-offs for the German championship; here, the matches were usually played on neutral ground, therefore 15% of the income was allotted for renting the ground as well as administrative and travel costs for the teams, with the remaining income divided equally between the clubs and the DFB. For the semi-final and final matches, yet another distribution key was applied. In the semi-final, teams received 20% of the net income (that is, after rent, administrative and travel costs had been deducted), and in the final their share was reduced to 15%.[6]
While some areas took until 1947, to restart football competitions, in the south of Germany, a highest league was formed soon after the Nazi collapse. The new Oberligen took the place of the Gauligen from 1945, when six new leagues were gradually formed in what was left of Germany:
With the rise of the Nazis to power, theGerman Football Association came fully under the party's influence. All sport, including football, was controlled by the Reichssportführer (Reich Sports Leader)Hans von Tschammer und Osten. In 1935, the newly established German cup, the Tschammerpokal, now theDFB-Pokal, was named after him. The Nazis prohibited all workers sports clubs (Arbeiter Sportvereine) and, increasingly so, allJewish sport associations. Jewish clubs were immediately removed from all national football competitions in 1933 and had to play their own tournaments. From 1938, all Jewish sport clubs were forbidden outright.[7]
Additionally, clubs with strong connections to Jews were punished and fell into disfavor, likeBayern Munich, who had a Jewish coach (Richard Dombi) and chairman (Kurt Landauer).[8] After the annexation of Austria in 1938,FK Austria Wien, another club with strong Jewish ties, suffered from persecution and many of the club's leaders, like its chairmanEmanuel Schwarz, had to escape to survive the Nazi regime.[9] Apart from those two clubs, theVfR Mannheim,VfB Mühlburg,1. FC Kaiserslautern,Stuttgarter Kickers,Eintracht Frankfurt andFSV Frankfurt had all benefited in their pre-1933 success from a strong Jewish membership in the clubs and found themselves initially unpopular with the Nazis. Even though Jews were soon removed from all these clubs, some retained a more open-minded attitude than others and continued to be out of favour with the Nazis. The players of Bayern Munich for example were heavily criticised for greeting their former chairman Landauer at a friendly atServette Geneva inSwitzerland.[10]
The Nazis were, however, interested in furthering sport, especially football, as success in the sport served their propaganda efforts. Hans von Tschammer und Osten specifically ordered that players from former workers' sports movements be integrated in the Nazi-approved clubs, as the Nazis could not afford to lose the country's best players. Upon his orders, teams were not selected by political criteria, but by performance criteria.
Despite this, the number of active players and clubs declined in regions like theRuhr area, where the workers' movement was traditionally strong.[11]
The fact that some famous players, likeFC Schalke 04's Tibulski, Kalwitzki,Fritz Szepan, andErnst Kuzorra, had less-than-German-sounding names and were mostly descendants ofPolish immigrants, was ignored by the Nazis. On the contrary, players like Szepan successfully represented Nazi Germany in the1934 and1938 World Cups.[12] Jewish players like the two former internationalsGottfried Fuchs andJulius Hirsch were not as welcome. Fuchs, who had scored an incredible 10 goals versusRussia in 1912, migrated toCanada, while Hirsch was murdered in Auschwitz.[10]
The Nazis' position to football and its clubs in the occupied territories varied greatly. Local clubs inEastern Europe, such as Polish and Czech clubs, were not permitted to compete in the Gauligen. The situation was different inWestern Europe, where clubs fromAlsace,Lorraine, andLuxembourg took part in theGauliga system under Germanised names.
Clubs with a Czech majority, while part of theGerman Reich, played out their own national,Bohemia/Moravia championship in this time, parallel to the GermanGauliga Böhmen und Mähren, but were racially segregated.[13]
The winners of the various Gauligen qualified for the finals of the German championship, held at the end of season.
From 1934 to 1938, the system was straight forward, as the 16 Gauliga champions were allocated in four groups of four teams. After a home-and-away round, the winners of the four groups played a semi-final on neutral ground. The two winners of the semi-finals went to the final to determine the German champion.
In the years 1939, 1940, and 1941, the number of groups was extended to compensate for the additional Gauligen created.
From 1942, the competition was played in a single-game knock-out format due to the worsening situation in the war.
WhileFC Schalke 04 was by far the most successful club in this era, however in 1941 the title went to Austria withRapid Wien. Also, a Luxembourgian club,Stade Dudelange (renamed FV Stadt Düdelingen), managed to reach the first round of the championship and cup in 1942.
| Year | Champion | Runner-Up | Result | Date | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Dresdner SC | LSV Hamburg | 4–0 | 18 June 1944 | Berlin | 70,000 |
| 1943 | Dresdner SC | FV Saarbrücken | 3–0 | 27 June 1943 | Berlin | 80,000 |
| 1942 | FC Schalke 04 | First Vienna FC | 2–0 | 5 July 1942 | Berlin | 90,000 |
| 1941 | Rapid Wien | FC Schalke 04 | 4–3 | 22 June 1941 | Berlin | 95,000 |
| 1940 | FC Schalke 04 | Dresdner SC | 1–0 | 21 July 1940 | Berlin | 95,000 |
| 1939 | FC Schalke 04 | Admira Wien | 9–0 | 18 June 1939 | Berlin | 100,000 |
| 1938 | Hannover 96 | FC Schalke 04 | 3–3 aet 4–3 aet | 26 June 1938 3 July 1938 | Berlin Berlin | 100,000 100,000 |
| 1937 | FC Schalke 04 | 1. FC Nürnberg | 2–0 | 20 June 1937 | Berlin | 100,000 |
| 1936 | 1. FC Nürnberg | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 2–1 aet | 21 June 1936 | Berlin | 45,000 |
| 1935 | FC Schalke 04 | VfB Stuttgart | 6–4 | 23 June 1935 | Cologne | 74,000 |
| 1934 | FC Schalke 04 | 1. FC Nürnberg | 2–1 | 24 June 1934 | Berlin | 45,000 |
The German Cup competition was first played out in 1935 and ceased in 1943, only restarting again in 1953. DuringNazi Germany, it was called The von Tschammer und Osten Pokal.
| Year | Winner | Finalist | Result | Date | Venue | Attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943 | First Vienna FC | LSV Hamburg | 3–2 aet | 31 October 1943 | Stuttgart | 45,000 |
| 1942 | TSV 1860 Munich | FC Schalke 04 | 2–0 | 15 October 1942 | Berlin | 80,000 |
| 1941 | Dresdner SC | FC Schalke 04 | 2–1 | 2 October 1941 | Berlin | 65,000 |
| 1940 | Dresdner SC | 1. FC Nürnberg | 2–1 aet | 1 December 1940 | Berlin | 60,000 |
| 1939 | 1. FC Nürnberg | SV Waldhof Mannheim | 2–0 | 8 April 1940 | Berlin | 60,000 |
| 1938 | Rapid Wien | FSV Frankfurt | 3–1 | 8 January 1939 | Berlin | 38,000 |
| 1937 | FC Schalke 04 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 2–1 | 9 January 1938 | Köln | 72,000 |
| 1936 | VfB Leipzig | FC Schalke 04 | 2–1 | 3 January 1937 | Berlin | 70,000 |
| 1935 | 1. FC Nürnberg | FC Schalke 04 | 2–0 | 8 December 1935 | Düsseldorf | 55,000 |
Three of the Gauligen contained clubs from regions occupied and annexed by Germany after the start of the Second World War in 1939.
TheGauliga Elsaß was completely made up of French clubs fromAlsace, who had to Germanise their names, likeRC Strasbourg, which becameRasen SC Straßburg.
In theGauliga Westmark three clubs from the FrenchLorraine region played under their German names:
In theGauliga Moselland, clubs fromLuxembourg took part in the competition, including:
In theGauliga Schlesien, later the Gauliga Oberschlesien, a number of clubs fromPoland played under their German names:
This timeline shows the length of time periods certain Gauligen existed. Note however, that all Gauligen were severely restricted after 1944 and none finished the 1944–45 season. Due to the German military collapse, information on the last season is generally limited, especially in the occupied areas.
Das große Spiel (The big game), a movie about a fictitious German football team, Gloria 03, directed byRobert Stemmle, released in 1942. The scenes at the final were filmed at the 1941 German championship final Rapid Wien versus FC Schalke 04.[14]