Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg

The Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg was the highest football league in the provinces of Brandenburg and Berlin in the German state of Prussia from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gaue Brandenburg and Berlin replaced the Prussian provinces.

Main article: Gauliga
Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg
Organising bodyFachamt Fußball (de)
Founded1933
Folded1945
Replaced by
Country Nazi Germany
Province
Gau (from 1934)
Number of teams
  • 12 (1933/34, 1939/40 – 1940/41)
  • 11 (1934/35, 1944/45)
  • 10 (1936/37 – 1938/39, 1941/42 – 1943/44)
Level on pyramidLevel 1
Domestic cup(s)Tschammerpokal
Last championsHertha BSC
(1943-44)
Most championships

Overview

The league was introduced by the Nazi Sports Office in 1933, after the Nazi take over of power in Germany. It replaced the Oberliga as the highest level of play in German football competitions.

The Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg was established with twelve clubs, ten from Berlin and two from Brandenburg.

The Gauliga replaced as such the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg, the highest league in the region until then.

The clubs from the Berlin/Brandenburg region were not particularly successful in the era from 1933 to 1945. No club reached a German championship or cup final. After Hertha BSC Berlin having played in a record six successive championship finals from 1926 to 1931, this unsuccessful run was a definite decline for the football in Berlin.

In its first season, the league had twelve clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league winner qualified for the German championship while the bottom three teams were relegated. The season after, the league was reduced to eleven teams. In 1935–36, it operated with ten clubs and only the bottom two teams being relegated. This modus remained in place until 1939.

In 1939–40, the league played in two separate groups of six teams with a home-and-away final at the end to determine the Berlin-Brandenburg champion.

The 1940–41 season was played as a single division again, now with twelve clubs and the bottom four being relegated. The year after, it returned to the ten-and-two format of the pre-war days. This system remained in place for the 1942–43 and 1943–44 seasons. For its last season, 1944–45, it expanded to eleven clubs.

The imminent collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945 gravely affected all Gauligas and football in the Berlin-Brandenburg region ceased in early 1945 with most clubs having played 13 of their 20-season games and the Berliner SV 92 leading the field.

Aftermath

With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist. Berlin came under joint allied control, while Brandenburg was part of the Soviet occupation zone. In Berlin, the Oberliga Berlin was formed as the new highest football league, in 1945. It still included then clubs from the eastern sector of the city, which was under Soviet control.

In Brandenburg, like most of Germany, football took longer to reestablish itself and the regions clubs eventually became part of the new DDR-Oberliga.

Founding members of the league

The twelve founding members and their positions in the 1932-33 Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg season were:[1]

Winners and runners-up of the league

The winners and runners-up of the league:[1]

Season Winner Runner-Up
1933-34 BFC Viktoria 89 Hertha BSC Berlin
1934-35 Hertha BSC Berlin BFC Viktoria 89
1935-36 Berliner SV 92 SC Minerva 93 Berlin
1936-37 Hertha BSC Berlin Berliner SV 92
1937-38 Berliner SV 92 Hertha BSC Berlin
1938-39 Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin Hertha BSC Berlin
1939-40 Union 06 Oberschöneweide Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin
1940-41 Tennis Borussia Berlin Hertha BSC Berlin
1941-42 Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin
1942-43 Berliner SV 92 SG Lufthansa Berlin
1943-44 Hertha BSC Berlin SG Lufthansa Berlin

Placings in the league 1933-44

The complete list of all clubs participating in the league:[1]

Club 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944
BFC Viktoria 89 1 2 6 7 10 6
Hertha BSC Berlin 2 1 3 1 2 2 5 2 3 3 1
Tennis Borussia Berlin 3 6 4 5 3 3 5 1 2 5 9
Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin 4 4 7 10 1 1 3 1 4 5
Berliner SV 92 5 3 1 2 1 6 4 10 1 6
SC Minerva 93 Berlin 6 5 2 9 4 4 4 7 7 10
Union 06 Oberschöneweide 7 10 4 6 5 1 7 10
Spandauer SV 8 8 10 3 9
VfB Pankow 9 7 9
BV Luckenwalde 10
SC Wacker 04 Tegel 11 5 3 4 9 6 4 8 8
SV Cottbus-Süd 12
Polizei SV Berlin 9 6 5 9
1. FC Guben 11
SpVgg 03 Potsdam 2 8 8 9 3
SV Elektra 1 6 5 7 3 11
Friesen Kottbus 7 10
Brandenburger SC 05 8 8 2 8 9
Lufthansa SG Berlin 2 5 8 2 4
Tasmania 1900 Berlin 12 6 7
SV Marga 6 10
LSV Berlin 2
  • 1 SV Bewag renamed to SV Elektra in 1938.
  • 2 SV 03 Nowawes renamed to SpVgg Potsdam.

References
  1. "Gauliga final tables". f-archiv.de (in German). Retrieved 28 February 2016.

Sources
  • Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 1-3 (in German) Tables of the Gauligas 1933–45, publisher: DSFS
  • Kicker Almanach, (in German) The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
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