Gauliga Niederrhein
Encyclopedia
| Gauliga Niederrhein |
|---|
| Founded |
| 1933 |
| Disbanded |
| 1945 |
| Nation |
 Nazi Germany Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by... |
 |
| Provinces Provinces of Prussia The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in... |
| Rhine Province Rhine Province The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg... |
| Gau (from 1934) |
| Essen |
| Düsseldorf |
| Number of Seasons |
| 12 |
| Replaced by |
| Oberliga West Oberliga West (1947-63) The Oberliga West was the highest level of the German football league system in the west of Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963... |
| 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... |
| Domestic Cup |
| Tschammerpokal DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal or DFB Cup is a German knockout football cup competition held annually. 64 teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It is considered the second most important national title in German football after the Bundesliga... |
| Last Champions 1943-44 |
| KSG SpV/48/99 Duisburg |
The Gauliga Niederrhein was the highest football league in the northern part of the Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
n Rhine Province
Rhine Province
The Rhine Province , also known as Rhenish Prussia or synonymous to the Rhineland , was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822-1946. It was created from the provinces of the Lower Rhine and Jülich-Cleves-Berg...
from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gaue Essen and Düsseldorf replaced the Prussian province
Provinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...
in the Lower Rhein
Lower Rhine region (Germany)
The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany between approximately Neuss and Düsseldorf in the South and the Dutch border around Emmerich in the North...
(German: Niederrhein) region.
Overview
The league was introduced in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of powerMachtergreifung
Machtergreifung is a German word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazi takeover of power in the democratic Weimar Republic on 30 January 1933, the day Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor of Germany, turning it into the Nazi German dictatorship.-Term:The...
in Germany. It replaced the Bezirksligas
Bezirksklasse
The Bezirksliga, Bezirksklasse or Landesklasse is the 8th tier of football in Germany. The Bezirksliga exists in all regions of German football. Below the Bezirksliga usually ranks the Kreisliga...
and Oberligas as the highest level of play in German football competitions.
While the Gauliga Niederrhein covered a small area in size, the region had a substantial population. The most successful club from the region was Fortuna Düsseldorf
Fortuna Düsseldorf
' is a German association football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, currently playing in the second tier of German league football, the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga...
, reaching the national championship final in 1936 and the cup final in 1937, both times coming out as the loser. No other club from the region reached a German final in this era.
In its first season, the league had twelve clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league champion then qualified 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 bottom three teams were relegated. The season after, the league was reduced to eleven, then ten teams. From 1935 to 1942, the modus and strength of the league did not alter, making it one of the few Gauligas which remained unaffected by the outbreak of the 2nd World War in 1939.
In the 1942-43 season, the league was reduced to nine clubs but returned to its old strength the season after.
The imminent collapse of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in 1945 gravely affected all Gauligas. The Gauliga Niederrhein retained its single-division, ten-team format even for its last season, too, but after only having played one round, the league was halted and did not resume again.
Aftermath
With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist and the region found itself in the BritishUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
occupation zone
Allied Occupation Zones in Germany
The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during 1945–49. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, US forces had pushed beyond the previously agreed boundaries for the...
. Top-level football did not resume straight away, unlike in Southern Germany, and only in 1947 was a new, highest league introduced, the Oberliga West
Oberliga West (1947-63)
The Oberliga West was the highest level of the German football league system in the west of Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963...
, which covered all of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia is the most populous state of Germany, with four of the country's ten largest cities. The state was formed in 1946 as a merger of the northern Rhineland and Westphalia, both formerly part of Prussia. Its capital is Düsseldorf. The state is currently run by a coalition of the...
.
Founding members of the league
The twelve founding members and their league positions in the 1932-33 season were:- VfL 06 BenrathVfL 06 BenrathVfL Benrath is a German association football club from the southern city district of Benrath in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:...
- Fortuna DüsseldorfFortuna Düsseldorf' is a German association football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, currently playing in the second tier of German league football, the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga...
, champion Bergisch-Mark division, German champion 1932-33 - SV Hamborn 07, champion Niederrhein division
- TSV Duisburg 99
- Borussia München-Gladbach
- Duisburger FV 08
- Schwarz-Weiß Essen
- Preußen Krefeld
- Rheydter SV
- BV Preußen Altenessen
- Alemannia AachenAlemannia AachenAlemannia Aachen is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's second division, Alemannia enjoyed a three-year turn in the top flight in the late 1960s and, after a successful 2005–06 campaign, returned to first division play...
- Schwarz-Weiß Barmen
Winners and runners-up of the Gauliga Niederrhein
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
| 1933-34 | VfL 06 Benrath | Fortuna Düsseldorf |
| 1934-35 | VfL 06 Benrath | Fortuna Düsseldorf |
| 1935-36 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | VfL 06 Benrath |
| 1936-37 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | TuS Duisburg 48/99 |
| 1937-38 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | Schwarz-Weiß Essen |
| 1938-39 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | Schwarz-Weiß Essen |
| 1939-40 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | Schwarz-Weiß Essen |
| 1940-41 | TuS Helene Altenessen | Rot-Weiß Essen |
| 1941-42 | SV Hamborn 07 | TuS Duisburg 48/99 |
| 1942-43 | BSG Westende Hamborn | TuS Helene Altenessen |
| 1943-44 | KSG SpV/48/99 Duisburg | BSG Westende Hamborn |
Placings in the Gauliga Niederrhein 1933-44
| Club | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VfL 06 Benrath VfL 06 Benrath VfL Benrath is a German association football club from the southern city district of Benrath in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:... |
1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 5 | ||
| Fortuna Düsseldorf Fortuna Düsseldorf ' is a German association football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, currently playing in the second tier of German league football, the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga... |
2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 9 | 7 | |
| SF Hamborn 07 SF Hamborn 07 SF Hamborn 07 is a German association football club based in Hamborn, a district in the north of Duisburg. The team currently plays in the Landesliga, the seventh tier of German football.... 3 |
3 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| TuS Duisburg 48/99 3 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Mönchengladbach is a German association football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, well-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth... |
5 | 3 | 9 | ||||||||
| FV 08 Duisburg | 6 | 4 | 7 | 9 | |||||||
| Schwarz-Weiß Essen | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9 | |
| Preußen Krefeld | 8 | 8 | 6 | 10 | |||||||
| Rheydter SpV | 9 | 11 | |||||||||
| BV Preußen Essen | 10 | ||||||||||
| Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen is a German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's second division, Alemannia enjoyed a three-year turn in the top flight in the late 1960s and, after a successful 2005–06 campaign, returned to first division play... 1 |
11 | ||||||||||
| Schwarz-Weiß Barmen | 12 | ||||||||||
| Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as Oberhausener SV in December 1904 out of the merger of Emschertaler SV and the football enthusiasts of Oberhausener TV 1873... 3 |
5 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | |||
| Homberger SpV | 10 | ||||||||||
| TuRu Düsseldorf TuRU Düsseldorf TuRU Düsseldorf is a German sports club from the city of Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:Turn- und Rasensport Union Düsseldorf claims a number of early Düsseldorf clubs in its heritage... |
5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 10 | ||||
| Union Hamborn 3 | 10 | 8 | 10 | ||||||||
| SSV Wuppertal 2 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 10 | |||||
| BV Altenessen BV Altenessen BV Altenessen is a German football club from the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It was established 6 May 1906 and had short turns as a first division side prior to World War II.-History:... 3 |
10 | ||||||||||
| Rot-Weiß Essen 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ||||||
| BSG Westende Hamborn | 4 | 7 | 9 | 2 | |||||||
| VfB Hilden 03 | 10 | ||||||||||
| TuS Helene Altenessen TuS Helene Altenessen TuS Helene Altenessen is a German football club from the district of Altenessen in the city of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia.-History:The team was established in 1928 as Werks-TuS Helene Altenessen and in 1934 merged with TuS Sälzer-Amalie Essen to form Turn- und Sportverein Helene Altenessen . In... |
1 | 7 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| VfR Ohligs | 10 | ||||||||||
| Union Krefeld | 8 | 10 | |||||||||
| KSG SpV/48/99 Duisburg 3 | 1 | ||||||||||
| KSG Oberhausen 3 | 4 | ||||||||||
| Gelb-Weiß Hamborn | 6 | ||||||||||
| KSG Essen 3 | 8 | ||||||||||
| KSG Hamborn 3 | 9 | ||||||||||
Source:
- 1 Alemannia Aachen played in the Gauliga Mittelrhein from 1937.
- 2 SSV Ebersfeld became SSV Wuppertal in 1938.
- 3 The following “war sport unions” (German: KSG) were formed between clubs in September 1943:
- TuS Duisburg 48/99 and Duisburger SV formed KSG SpV/48/99 Duisburg.
- Hamborn 07 and Union Hamborn formed KSG Hamborn.
- RW Essen and BV Altenessen formed KSG Essen.
- RW Oberhausen and Elmar Oberhausen formed KSG Oberhausen.
Sources
- Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 1-3 Tables of the Gauligas 1933-45, publisher: DSFS
- Kicker Almanach, The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports MagazineKicker (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...
External links
The Gauligas Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv- Germany - Championships 1902-1945 at RSSSF.com