 | |
| Founded | 1933 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1945 |
| Replaced by | Oberliga Nord |
| Country |  Nazi Germany |
| Provinces andStates | |
| Gau (from 1934) | |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| Domestic cup | Tschammerpokal |
| Last champions |
|
TheGauliga Niedersachsen was the highestfootball league in thePrussianProvince of Hanover and the German states ofBremen,Brunswick,Schaumburg-Lippe andOldenburg from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, theNazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and theGaueSüdhannover-Braunschweig,Ost-Hannover andWeser-Emsde facto replaced thePrussian province and the German states in the region ofLower Saxony (German:Niedersachsen), althoughde jure the old states continued to exist.
From 1942, theGauliga Niedersachsen was split into two separate leagues, theGauliga Südhannover-Braunschweig and theGauliga Weser-Ems. In turn, theGauliga Osthannover was separated from theGauliga Südhannover-Braunschweig in 1943.
The league was introduced by theNazi Sports Office in 1933, after theNazi takeover of power in Germany. It replaced theOberliga Südhannover/Braunschweig andOberliga Weser/Jade as the highest level of play of the regional football competitions.
The league's success on a national scale was moderate. The surprising victory ofHannover 96 in the 1938 championship over the all-dominatingSchalke 04 with a 4–3 extra time win in the replay final remained the only triumph for the region.
In its first season, the league had ten clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league champion then qualified for theGerman championship. The bottom two teams were relegated. The season after, the league was upsized to eleven teams due to the integration ofViktoria Wilhelmsburg, the club coming across from theGauliga Nordmark. The 1934–35 and 1935–36 seasons were therefore played with eleven teams and three relegation spots. From 1936, the league returned to ten clubs.
Due to the outbreak ofWorld War II in 1939, the league was split into two regional groups of six clubs each. The two group champions then played a home-and-away final for theGauliga championship. This modus remained for the 1940–41 season.
In its last season, 1941–42, the league remained divided into two regional groups but instead of a two team final, a championship-round of six teams was played. At the end of this season, the league was split into two separateGauligas.
The territory of the newGauliga Südhannover-Braunschweig was made up of the area of theGau Southern Hanover-Brunswick and theGau Eastern Hanover.
The league started with ten clubs in a single division in 1942. It remained at this strength for the 1943–44 season but lost one club, theWehrmacht SV Celle, to the newGauliga Osthannover.
Due to the arrival of the war on Germany's borders, the last season, 1944–45, was barely started. It was meant to operate in eight regional groups.
The territory of the newGauliga Weser-Ems was made up of the area of theGau of the same name.
The league started out with ten clubs in a single division. The 1943–44 season was then played in three regional groups of uneven strength, with 23 clubs altogether and a three-team finals round.
The last season saw the same modus but 24 clubs. Play did not get under way very far, and most clubs only played two or three games before the league was dissolved.
The league begun play as an offshoot of theGauliga Südhannover-Braunschweig in 1943 in the area of theGau Eastern Hanover with eight teams in a single division. The league only played one complete season.
In its second season, it was expanded to twelve teams in two groups of six. However, no club absolved more than two games before the effects of the war led to the cancellation of the league.
With the end of the Nazi era, theGauligas ceased to exist and the northern part of Germany found itself in theBritishoccupation zone. Only the state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen was not part of this zone as it was awarded to the US forces as a port for their otherwise landlocked occupation zone in Southern Germany.
In the British zone and Bremen, top-level football did not resume straight away, unlike in Southern Germany, and only in 1947 a new, highest league was introduced, theOberliga Nord, which covered the new states ofLower Saxony andSchleswig-Holstein along with the recreated city-states ofHamburg and Bremen.
The ten founding members and their league positions in theOberliga Südhannover/Braunschweig andOberliga Weser/Jade in 1932–33 were:[1]
The winners and runners-up of the league:[1]
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 1933–34 | Werder Bremen | Arminia Hannover |
| 1934–35 | Hannover 96 | Werder Bremen |
| 1935–36 | Werder Bremen | Hannover 96 |
| 1936–37 | Werder Bremen | Arminia Hannover |
| 1937–38 | Hannover 96 | VfL Osnabrück |
| 1938–39 | VfL Osnabrück | Hannover 96 |
| 1939–40 | VfL Osnabrück | Hannover 96 |
| 1940–41 | Hannover 96 | VfL Osnabrück |
| 1941–42 | Werder Bremen | LSV Wolfenbüttel |
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 1942–43 | Eintracht Braunschweig | Wehrmacht SV Celle |
| 1943–44 | Eintracht Braunschweig | VfB 04 Braunschweig |
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 1942–43 | SpVgg Wilhelmshaven 05 | Werder Bremen |
| 1943–44 | SpVgg Wilhelmshaven 05 | ASV Blumenthal |
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 1943–44 | Wehrmacht SV Celle | Cuxhavener SV |
The complete list of all clubs participating in the league:[1]
| Club | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 19403 | 19413 | 19424 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SV Werder Bremen | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Arminia Hannover | 2 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
| SV Algermissen 11 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 10 | |||
| Hannover 96 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Eintracht Braunschweig | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Komet Bremen | 6 | 7 | 10 | ||||||
| Bremer SV | 7 | 11 | 6 | ||||||
| Hildesheim 06 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| VfB Peine | 9 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 | |||
| SC Göttingen 05 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 6 | |||||
| Borussia Harburg12 | 6 | 7 | 5 | ||||||
| SpVgg Hannover 1897 | 9 | ||||||||
| Viktoria Wilhelmsburg1 | 10 | ||||||||
| Rasensport Harburg | 8 | 9 | |||||||
| VfL Osnabrück | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||
| FV Wilhelmsburg 092 | 8 | ||||||||
| ASV Blumenthal | 7 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 6 | ||||
| Germania Wolfenbüttel | 9 | ||||||||
| LV Linden 07 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 5 | |||||
| MSV Bückenburg | 5 | ||||||||
| MSV Lüneburg | 8 | ||||||||
| SpVgg Wilhelmshaven 05 | 3 | 3 | 4 | ||||||
| SV Schinkel 04 | 5 | 4 | 4 | ||||||
| Tura Gröpelingen | 6 | ||||||||
| LSV Wolfenbüttel | 2 | ||||||||
| TuS Osnabrück 97 | 5 |
