Gauliga Sachsen
Encyclopedia
| Gauliga Sachsen |
|---|
| 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... |
 |
| State 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... |
 Saxony The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states.... |
| Gau (from 1934) |
| Saxony |
| Number of Seasons |
| 12 |
| Replaced by |
| DDR-Oberliga DDR-Oberliga The DDR-Oberliga was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR , being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga or Bundesliga in West Germany.-Overview:Following World... |
| 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 |
| Dresdner SC Dresdner SC Dresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900... |
The Gauliga Saxony was the highest football league in the German state of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
(German:Sachsen) from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau Saxony replaced the state Saxony.
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.
In its first season, the league had eleven 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 ten teams. It operated on the same modus until the outbreak of the 2nd World War in 1939.
Due to the effects of the war, the 1939-40 season was played in two regional groups of six teams each with a home-and-away final between the two group winners.
During the war years, the Dresdner SC
Dresdner SC
Dresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900...
became a dominating force in German football, with two championships, in 1943 and 1944, a lost final in 1940 and two cup wins in 1940 and 1941. The VfB Leipzig was the other team from the league with a national title, winning the German Cup in 1936. Those successes made the Gauliga Sachsen one of the strongest competitions in the country.
In the 1940-41 season, the Gauliga Sachsen returned to a single division format, now with twelve clubs. This number was reduced to ten for the next season and remained at this strength until 1944.
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 and football in the region was split into seven regional groups. However, none of them played more than a few games before the arrival of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, and the end of the war terminated all competitions.
Aftermath
With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist and the region found itself in the Soviet occupation zoneAllied 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...
. The DDR-Oberliga
DDR-Oberliga
The DDR-Oberliga was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR , being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga or Bundesliga in West Germany.-Overview:Following World...
was formed in the following years as the highest level of play in the new country of East Germany and the region became part of the East German football league system
East German football league system
The football league system of the German Democratic Republic existed from the creation of the DDR-Oberliga in 1949 until shortly after German reunification in 1990....
.
Virtually all football clubs in the region were dissolved and replaced with clubs controlled by the new communist government. Of those, some readopted the pre-1945 names after the German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
in 1990.
Founding members of the league
The eleven founding members and their league placing in 1932-33 were:- Dresdner SCDresdner SCDresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900...
, champion Ostsachsen division - VfB Leipzig
- Polizei SV Chemnitz, champion Mittelsachsen division
- SV Guts Muts Dresden
- Wacker LeipzigWacker LeipzigSC Wacker Leipzig was a German association football club playing in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was formed 24 February 1895 out of the merger of the school clubs Concordia Leipzig and Saxonia Leipzig...
, champions Nordwestsachsen division - VfB Glauchau, champion Westsachsen division
- Plauener SuBC
- Planitzer SC
- Chemnitzer BCChemnitzer BCChemnitzer BC was a German association football club playing in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club was established 2 December 1899 as Chemnitzer Sportclub Britannia and was a founding member of the German Football Association at Leipzig in 1900.-History:The team was re-named SC Britannia Chemnitz in April...
- VFC PlauenVFC PlauenVFC Plauen is a German association football club from the city of Plauen, Saxony.-History:The club was founded as 1. Vogtländischer Fußballclub Plauen and took part in the competition of the VMFV...
- SpVgg Falkenstein, champion VogtlandVogtlandThe term Vogtland refers to a region reaching across the German free states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia and into the Czech Republic . The name of the region contains a reference to the former leadership by the Vögte of Weida, Gera and Plauen, which translates approximately to advocates or lord...
division
Winners and runners-up of the Gauliga Sachsen
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
| 1933-34 | Dresdner SC | VfB Leipzig |
| 1934-35 | PSV Chemnitz | Dresdner SC |
| 1935-36 | PSV Chemnitz | Dresdner SC |
| 1936-37 | BC 01 Hartha | PSV Chemnitz |
| 1937-38 | BC 01 Hartha | SV Fortuna Leipzig |
| 1938-39 | Dresdner SC | VfB Leipzig |
| 1939-40 | Dresdner SC | Planitzer SC |
| 1940-41 | Dresdner SC | Planitzer SC |
| 1941-42 | Planitzer SC | Dresdner SC |
| 1942-43 | Dresdner SC | Planitzer SC |
| 1943-44 | Dresdner SC | SG Zwickau |
Placings in the Gauliga Sachsen 1933-44
| Club | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dresdner SC Dresdner SC Dresdner SC is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association in 1900... |
1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| VfB Leipzig | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 10 |
| PSV Chemnitz | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 9 | |
| Guths Muts Dresden | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 10 | |||
| Wacker Leipzig Wacker Leipzig SC Wacker Leipzig was a German association football club playing in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was formed 24 February 1895 out of the merger of the school clubs Concordia Leipzig and Saxonia Leipzig... |
5 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 11 | ||||||
| VfB Glauchau | 6 | 10 | 4 | 12 | |||||||
| SuBC Plauen | 7 | 9 | |||||||||
| SC Planitz | 8 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Chemnitzer BC Chemnitzer BC Chemnitzer BC was a German association football club playing in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club was established 2 December 1899 as Chemnitzer Sportclub Britannia and was a founding member of the German Football Association at Leipzig in 1900.-History:The team was re-named SC Britannia Chemnitz in April... |
9 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | |||||
| VFC Plauen VFC Plauen VFC Plauen is a German association football club from the city of Plauen, Saxony.-History:The club was founded as 1. Vogtländischer Fußballclub Plauen and took part in the competition of the VMFV... |
10 | ||||||||||
| SpVgg Falkenstein | 11 | ||||||||||
| SV Fortuna Leipzig | 3 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 9 | |
| Sportfreunde Dresden | 5 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 10 | ||||||
| BC Hartha BC Hartha BC Hartha is a German association football club from the town of Hartha, Saxony.-History:The club was established 13 July 1913 and first emerged out of local level competition in the mid-30s by capturing the Bezirksklasse Mittelsachsen title in 1935 and then winning a promotion playoff to advance... |
6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Dresdensia Dresden | 10 | ||||||||||
| Tura Leipzig | 6 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 8 | ||||
| Riesaer SV 03 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | ||||||
| SpVgg Leipzig | 9 | ||||||||||
| SV Grüna | 10 | ||||||||||
| Concordia Plauen | 9 | 6 | |||||||||
| SC Döbeln | 8 | 8 | 5 | ||||||||
| Sportlust Zittau | 10 | ||||||||||
| SG Zwickau | 2 | ||||||||||
Source:
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