Bezirksliga Rhein
Founded
1923
Disbanded
1927
Nation
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
States States of Germany Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...  & Regions
Baden Baden Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
Palatinate
Number of Seasons
4
Replaced by
Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar The Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar was the highest association football league in the German state of Saarland, the Bavarian region of Palatinate and the northern-most part of Baden from 1927 to 1933...
Level on Pyramid
Level 1 German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation...
Last Champions 1926-27
VfL Neckarau VfL Neckarau VfL Neckarau is a German association football club from the district of Neckarau in the city of Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg.-Foundation and early years:...

The Bezirksliga Rhein was the highest association football league in the northern part of the German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 state of Baden

Baden

Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....

 and the Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

n region of Palatinate from 1923 to 1927, when the league was replaced by the Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar

Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar

The Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar was the highest association football league in the German state of Saarland, the Bavarian region of Palatinate and the northern-most part of Baden from 1927 to 1933...

.

Overview

The league was formed in 1923, after a league reform which was decided upon in Darmstadt

Darmstadt

Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...

, Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

. It replaced the Kreisliga Odenwald

Kreisliga Odenwald

The Kreisliga Odenwald was the highest association football league in the northern part of the German state of Baden and the southern part of the state of Hesse from 1919 to 1923...

and the Kreisliga Pfalz

Kreisliga Pfalz

The Kreisliga Pfalz was the highest association football league in the Bavarian region of Palatinate from 1919 to 1923...

as the highest leagues in the region.

The Bezirksliga Rhein, named after the river Rhine (German: Rhein), started out with eight teams, playing each other in a home-and-away round with the league winner advancing to the Southern German championship

Southern German football championship

The Southern German football championship was the highest association football competition in the South of Germany, established in 1898...

, which in turn was a qualification tournament for the German championship

German football champions

The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Germany. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of the 20th century.Brought to the country by English...

.

The league modus remained unchanged for its first three seasons, 1923–24, 1924–25 and 1925-26. For its last edition however, it expanded to ten clubs. Additionally, the leagues runners-up also qualified for a "consolidation" round with the other runners-up of the southern Bezirksligas. The winner of this round was awarded the third entry spot for the south to the German finals.

In an attempt to bring all Southern German leagues to a similar system, the Bezirksligas were reorganised in 1927. For the Bezirksliga Rhein, this meant, it joined with the southern clubs of the Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar

Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar

The Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar was the highest association football league in the German state of Saarland, the Rheinhessen part of the state of Hesse and parts of the Bavarian region of Palatinate and the Prussian Rhine Province from 1923 to 1927, when the league was replaced by the Bezirksliga...

to form the new Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar

Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar

The Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar was the highest association football league in the German state of Saarland, the Bavarian region of Palatinate and the northern-most part of Baden from 1927 to 1933...

. In practice, this meant little change for the league as the new Bezirksliga was immediately sub-divided into two independent, regional divisions. Out of the ten clubs in the league, eight went to the new Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar - Rhein division, only the FK Pirmasens

FK Pirmasens

FK Pirmasens is a German association football club in Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate. The team was formed as the football section of the gymnastics and sports club TV Pirminia Pirmasens in 1903 and became independent in 1914. They took on their current name in 1925...

 found itself grouped into the Saar division of the new league while the SV Darmstadt 98

SV Darmstadt 98

SV Darmstadt 98 is a German association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919 the association was briefly known as Rasen-Sportverein Olympia before merging with Darmstädter Sport Club 1905 on 11 November that year to...

 went to the new Bezirksliga Main-Hessen

Bezirksliga Main-Hessen

The Bezirksliga Main-Hessen was the highest association football league in the German state of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1927 to 1933...

.

Southern German championship

Qualified teams and their success:

• 1924:
  • Waldhof Mannheim, 4th place
• 1925:
  • VfR Mannheim, Southern German champions
• 1926:
  • VfR Mannheim, 4th place
• 1927:
  • VfR Mannheim, 4th place Bezirksliga-runners-up round
  • VfL Neckarau, 4th place

German championship

Qualified teams and their success:

• 1924:
  • none qualified
• 1925:
  • VfR Mannheim, First round
• 1926:
  • none qualified
• 1927:
  • none qualified

Founding members of the league

The league was formed from eight teams:

• Waldhof Mannheim
• VfR Mannheim
  VfR Mannheim
  VfR Mannheim is a German association football club based in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg formed in 1911 out of the fusion of Mannheimer FG 1896, Mannheimer FG 1897 Union, and FC Viktoria 1897 Mannheim...
  
  
• Phönix Ludwigshafen
• FK Pirmasens
  FK Pirmasens
  FK Pirmasens is a German association football club in Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate. The team was formed as the football section of the gymnastics and sports club TV Pirminia Pirmasens in 1903 and became independent in 1914. They took on their current name in 1925...
  
  
• Pfalz Ludwigshafen
• VfTuR Feudenheim
• Ludwigshafener FG
• Phönix Mannheim

Winners and runners-up of the Bezirksliga Rhein

Season	Champions	Runners-Up
1923-24	Waldhof Mannheim	VfR Mannheim
1924-25	VfR Mannheim	Phönix Lugwigshafen
1925-26	VfR Mannheim	Phönix Lugwigshafen
1926-27	VfL Neckarau	VfR Mannheim

Placings in the Bezirksliga Rhein 1923 to 1927

Club	1924	1925	1926	1927
Waldhof Mannheim	1	3	4	4
VfR Mannheim VfR Mannheim VfR Mannheim is a German association football club based in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg formed in 1911 out of the fusion of Mannheimer FG 1896, Mannheimer FG 1897 Union, and FC Viktoria 1897 Mannheim...	2	1	1	2
Phönix Ludwigshafen	3	2	2	3
FK Pirmasens FK Pirmasens FK Pirmasens is a German association football club in Pirmasens, Rhineland-Palatinate. The team was formed as the football section of the gymnastics and sports club TV Pirminia Pirmasens in 1903 and became independent in 1914. They took on their current name in 1925...	4	5	8	5
Pfalz Ludwigshafen	5	8
VfTuR Feudenheim	6	7
Ludwigshafener FG	7		5	7
Phönix Mannheim	8			10
VfL Neckarau VfL Neckarau VfL Neckarau is a German association football club from the district of Neckarau in the city of Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg.-Foundation and early years:...		4	3	1
SV Darmstadt 98 SV Darmstadt 98 SV Darmstadt 98 is a German association football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919 the association was briefly known as Rasen-Sportverein Olympia before merging with Darmstädter Sport Club 1905 on 11 November that year to...		6	6	6
SpVgg Mannheim			7
FV Speyer				8
SpVgg Sandhofen				9

Source:

Sources

• Fussball-Jahrbuch Deutschland (8 vol.), Tables and results of the German tier-one leagues 1919-33, publisher: DSFS
• Kicker Almanach, The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
  Kicker (sports magazine)
  kicker Sportmagazin is Germany's leading sports magazine and is focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice a week, usually Monday and Thursday, in Nuremberg...
  
  
• Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897-1988 History of Southern German football in tables, publisher & author: Ludolf Hyll

External links

The Gauligas Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv German league tables 1892-1933 Hirschi's Fussball seiten

• Germany - Championships 1902-1945 at RSSSF.com