Oberliga Südwest

Founded	1945
Folded	1963 (18 seasons)
Replaced by	Bundesliga
Country	Germany
State	Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Relegation to	2. Oberliga Südwest
Last champions	1. FC Kaiserslautern (1962–63)

TheOberliga Südwest (English:Premier league Southwest) was the highest level of theGerman football league system in the southwest ofGermany from 1945 until theformation of theBundesliga in 1963. It covered the two states ofRhineland-Palatinate andSaarland.

The league was introduced as the highest level of football in theFrenchoccupation zone in 1945, replacing theGauligas as such. As was the French occupation zone, the Oberliga was split into a northern and a southern zone. The northern zone continued till 1963 to form the Oberliga Südwest while the southern zone was integrated into the Oberliga Süd in 1950. Until then, the champion of the Oberliga was determined by a home-and-away final between the two group winners.

The clubs in the Oberliga Süd came from the followingGauligas:

• Gauliga Westmark
• Gauliga Moselland
• Gauliga Baden (southern half only)

In addition to the Oberliga Südwest, four other Oberligas were formed in Germany in the 1940s.

• Oberliga West (formed in 1947)
• Oberliga Nord (formed in 1947)
• Oberliga Berlin (formed in 1945, originally with clubs from west and east Berlin)
• Oberliga Süd (formed in 1945)

Next to the Oberliga Berlin, the Oberliga Südwest was the smallest of the five Oberligas. Considering this, it is still impressive^{[according to whom?]} that it won two German titles through the 1. FC Kaiserslautern, led by the German captainFritz Walter, still a legend in Kaiserslautern and Germany.^{[citation needed]}

Set below the Oberliga were originally the Amateurligas. In 1951 the2. Oberliga Südwest was formed to fit in between.

With the reintroduction of the German championship in 1948, the winner and runners-up of the Oberliga Südwest went on to the finals tournament with the other Oberliga champions.

In 1950, the southern group of the Oberliga Südwest was disbanded and its clubs joined the Southern German Football Association.

From 1948 to 1951 the clubs from the Saarland did not take part in the Oberliga Südwest, playing their own competition instead. The 1. FC Saarbrücken even took part in theFrench second division in 1948–49, winning the division but being refused further participation.^[1]

The1. FC Kaiserslautern,Wormatia Worms and1. FSV Mainz 05 took part in all of the 18 seasons of the Oberliga Südwest.

In 1978, theOberliga Südwest was reformed, as the third tier of German football, but still covering the same region. From the clubs that played the last season in 1963, the 1. FSV Mainz 05,FK Pirmasens,SV Südwest Ludwigshafen,TuS Neuendorf andEintracht Bad Kreuznach also saw the first season of the new league.

• 1. FC Saarbrücken
• 1. FC Kaiserslautern
• Borussia Neunkirchen
• Wormatia Worms
• VfR Frankenthal
• FK Pirmasens
• Phönix Ludwigshafen
• 1. FC Idar
• BFV Hassia Bingen
• 1. FSV Mainz 05

With the introduction of the Bundesliga, two teams from the Oberliga Südwest were admitted to the new Bundesliga. The remaining clubs went to the newRegionalliga Südwest together with six clubs from the 2nd Oberliga Südwest, one of five new second divisions.

While the admittance of the1. FC Kaiserslautern as the most prolific team of the Oberliga and champion of 1963 was logical, the pick of the1. FC Saarbrücken was more than dubious, having only finished fifth in the Oberliga that year and coming in below the other Saarland side,Borussia Neunkirchen.

The qualifying system for the new league was fairly complex. The league placings of the clubs playing in theOberligen for the last ten seasons were taken into consideration, whereby results from 1952 to 1955 counted once, results from 1955 to 1959 counted double and results from 1959 to 1963 triple. A first-place finish was awarded 16 points, a sixteenth place one point. Appearances in the German championship orDFB-Pokal finals were also rewarded with points. The fiveOberliga champions of the 1962–63 season were granted direct access to the Bundesliga. All up, 46 clubs applied for the 16 available Bundesliga slots.

Following this system, by 11 January 1963, the DFB announced nine fixed clubs for the new league and reduced the clubs eligible for the remaining seven places to 20. Clubs within the same Oberliga that were separated by less than 50 points were considered on equal rank and the 1962-63 placing was used to determine the qualified team.^[2]

Of the seven clubs from the league applying, the 1. FC Saarbrücken qualified early even thoughFK Pirmasens andBorussia Neunkirchen were less than ten points behind in the overall ranking and finished better in 1962–63. The rumor persists that Saarbrücken was chosen because it was from the home state of the later DFB chairmanHermann Neuberger (Chairman from 1975 to 1992), an influential figure in German football.^[3] The DFB justified the choice of the 1. FCS with the fact that the club had a superior infrastructure to the other two.^[4] The 1. FC Kaiserslautern also qualified.^[5]

Points table:

• Source:DSFS Liga-Chronik(in German), page: B 12, accessed: 4 November 2008
• Bold Denotes club qualified for the new Bundesliga.
• ¹ Denotes club was one of the nine selected on 11 January 1963.
• ² Denotes club was one of the 20 taken into final selection.
• ³ Denotes club was one of the 15 applicants which were removed from final selection.
• ⁴ Denotes club withdrew Bundesliga application.

The winners and runners-up of the Oberliga Südwest:^[6]

• Bold denotes team went on to win German Championship.

The final placings and all-time table of the northern group of the Oberliga Südwest:^[6]

Source:"Oberliga Südwest". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved7 January 2008.

Source:"Overall table Oberliga Südwest". FSV Mainz 05. Retrieved7 January 2008.

• * Denotes clubs fromSaarland, which did not take part in the competition from 1948 to 1951.

The final placings of the southern group of the Oberliga Südwest:

Source:"Oberliga Südwest". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved8 January 2008.

• Until 1949, clubs in this league were not permitted to carry their pre-war name. Names given are the ones carried after 1949.

• Kicker Almanach,(in German) The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by theKicker Sports Magazine
• Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897-1988(in German) History of Southern German football in tables, publisher & author: Ludolf Hyll
• 100 Jahre Süddeutscher Fussball-Verband(in German) 100-year-anniversary book of Southern German football Association, publisher: Vindelica Verlag, published: 1997
• Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945-2005(in German) History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables, publisher:DSFS, published: 2006

• Das deutsche Fussball Archiv(in German) Historic German league tables
• Oberliga Südwest at Fussballdaten.de

• Defunct Oberligas (football)
• Football competitions in Rhineland-Palatinate
• Football competitions in Saarland
• 1945 establishments in Germany
• 1963 disestablishments in West Germany
• Sports leagues established in 1945
• Defunct top-level football leagues in Europe

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