1.
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig
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The team won the 2015-16 NOFV-Oberliga Süd and qualified for the 2016–17 Regionalliga Nordost, where it will face former East German champions FC Carl Zeiss Jena and BFC Dynamo. The club was formed on 26 May 1896 out of the department of gymnastics club Allgemeine Turnverein 1845 Leipzig. The union lasted until 2 May 1900 when the two went their separate ways again. VfB Leipzig was one of the original eighty-six teams that came together in the city in 1900 to form the German Football Association and they were immediately successful at their chosen sport and made their way to the first German national championship final held in 1903. Their opponents were DFC Prag, an ethnically German side from Prague, the DFB had invited German clubs of this sort from other countries in order to boost numbers in their new national association. DFC Prag had made their way to the final under circumstances that had allowed them to playing a single playoff game. Arriving in Hamburg for the match, the heavily favoured Pragers took themselves off on a pub crawl the night before the contest. The contest against was delayed half an hour as officials scrambled to find a football that was in good condition, the host, FC93 Altona Hamburg, provided a new ball and eleven minutes in, DFC Prag scored the first goal. Leipzig played themselves into another final appearance in 1904, but the match was never contested, a protest by FV Karlsruhe over their disputed semi-final with Britannia Berlin was never resolved and the DFB called off the final only hours before its scheduled start. There would be no champion that year, the following season Leipzig found themselves unable to cover the expense of travelling to participate in their scheduled first round playoff match and so were eliminated from that years competition. They did, however, go on to raise the Viktoria again in 1906 and 1913, in the period leading up to World War II, VfB was unable to repeat their early success. After the re-organization of German football leagues under the Third Reich in 1933, while they earned good results within their own division, they were unable to advance in the playoff rounds. In 1937, they captured the Tschammerpokal, known today as the German Cup, in a match against FC Schalke 04, the dominant side of the era. The club, like most other organizations in Germany, including sports, club members reconstituted the team in 1946 as SG Probstheida under the auspices of the occupying Soviets. In 1963 Leipzigs two most important clubs – SC Rotation and SC Lokomotive Leipzig – were put together resulting in two new sides being founded – SC Leipzig and BSG Chemie Leipzig. East German football went through a general re-organization in 1965, creating football clubs as centres of high-level football, FC Lokomotive Leipzig, while rivals Chemie Leipzig continued as a Betriebssportgemeinschaft, or a company team. Lok earned a clutch of East German Cups with victories in 1976,1981,1986 and 1987 against failed appearances in the Cup final in 1970,1973 and 1977. They also won the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1966 and made an appearance in the 1987 final of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup falling 0,1 to Johan Cruijffs Ajax Amsterdam after a Marco van Basten goal
2.
1. FC Pforzheim
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FC Pforzheim was a German association football club playing in Pforzheim, Baden-Württemberg. The club was established on 5 May 1896 and was a member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900. In 2010 it merged with VfR Pforzheim to 1, the club enjoyed most of its success in its early years. In 1906 they captured the championship of the Süddeutschland Verband by beating Karlsruher FV, with the win the club advanced to the final in Nuremberg where they lost a 1–2 decision to VfB Leipzig. World War I disrupted play in the country for several years and they returned to, at first, the Kreisliga Südwest and then the Bezirksliga Württemberg-Baden in the early 20s before being relegated in 1926, and then earning their re-promotion in 1929. In 1933 German football was reorganized under the Third Reich into sixteen first division Gauligen, FC Pforzheim played in the Gauliga Baden through to 1944 with their best results coming as second place finishes in 1936,1938, and 1939. The club narrowly missed relegation in 1941 escaping only through the collapse of FC Birkenfeld, play in the Gauliga Baden was disrupted and then ended in the 1944–45 season by the advance of Allied armies into Germany towards the end of World War II. After the war the club re-emerged in the 2nd Oberliga Süd playing there from 1950 to 1963, league re-organization then saw Pforzheim in the Regionalliga Süd from 1963 until 1967 when a crash from 7th to 18th place led to the team being relegated. Pforzheims 17-year-long stay in the division was the longest of any other team at the time. Their best result in this period was a finish in 1963. In 1967, Pforzheim fell to the third division Amateurliga Nordbaden and they returned to the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg in 1985 and followed up their promotion with a Baden Cup win in 1987 leading to their first German Cup appearance in 1987–88. They progressed into the Round of 16 before being put out by Bundesliga side Werder Bremen, a second Baden Cup win and German Cup appearance came in 1989. The team pulled off a victory over Bundesliga side VfL Bochum in the second round of the 1989–90 German Cup. The side then captured a title in 1991 and took part in the promotion rounds for the 2. Bundesliga, but were unable to advance, the team narrowly missed a return to third class football in 2001 when they once again finished just two points behind TSG Ulm 1846. By 2004 the association was a million Euros in debt and declared bankruptcy, in June 2010, the club merged with local rival VfR Pforzheim to form the 1. The clubs honours, The recent season-by-season performance of the club, With the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994, liga in 2008 as the new third tier, below the 2. Bundesliga, all leagues below dropped one tier, cfR Pforzheim – English site Abseits Guide to German Soccer
3.
German Football Association
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The German Football Association is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of the mens and womens national teams, the DFB headquarters are based in Frankfurt am Main. Sole members of the DFB are the German Football League, organising the professional Bundesliga, Bundesliga, along with five regional and 21 state associations, organising the semi-professional and amateur levels. The 21 state associations of the DFB have a number of more than 25,000 clubs with more than 6.8 million members. From 1875 to the mid-1880s, the first kind of football played in Germany was according to rugby rules, later, association-style football teams formed separate clubs, and since 1890, they began to organise on regional and national levels. The DFB was founded on 28 January 1900 in Leipzig by representatives of 86 clubs, the vote held to establish the association was 62,22 in favour. Some delegates present represented more than one club, but may have voted only once, other delegates present did not carry their clubs authority to cast a ballot. The DFB consolidated the number of state-based German regional competitions in play for a single recognized national title for the season 1902/03. The German national team played its first game in 1908, before 1914, the German Empire was much larger than todays Germany, comprising Alsace-Lorraine and the eastern provinces. The borders of the associations were drawn according to suitable railway connections. Also, teams based in Bohemia, then part of Austria-Hungary, were eligible, as they were German Football clubs, thus, a German team from Prague was runner-up in the German championship. On the other hand, clubs of the Danish minority in Northern Schleswig refused to join the DFB and this area after World War I voted to join Denmark. Due to border changes imposed by the Treaty of Versailles, the DFB had to adopt its structure, the Saarland, Danzig, and the Memelland were detached from Germany and East Prussia was cut off from the main part by the Polish Corridor. The role of DFB and its representatives like Felix Linnemann under Nazi Germany was documented in 100 Jahre DFB, on a short general meeting on 9 July 1933 in Berlin, the DFB did so, at least formally. Later, the Hitler salute was made compulsory, Marxists and Jews were expelled, on the pitch, Germany had done well in 1934, but after a 0–2 loss in the 1936 Summer Olympics, with Adolf Hitler attending, the DFB and football fell from grace. Germany had made a bid to host the 1938 World Cup, following the Anschluss in March 1938 that made Austria part of Germany, the Austrian Football Association became part of the German federation. Four Germans represented West Europe in a FIFA friendly on 20 June 1937 in Amsterdam, during the war, Germany played international games until 1942. In the aftermath of World War II, German organisations were disbanded by the allies, FIFA decided in November 1945 to ban the no longer existing DFB from international competition, while the Austrian association was re-founded
4.
SV Blitz Breslau
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SV Blitz Breslau was a German football club playing in Breslau, Lower Silesia in what was then part of Germany but is today Wrocław, Poland. The club was established on 1 April 1897 by former members of the cycling club Radverein Blitz Breslau, SVB was one of the founding members of the German Football Association established in Leipzig in 1900. A split of the led to the formation of Sport Club Schlesien Breslau on 26 August 1901. Subsequent appearances in the national level playoffs ended with quarter final losses, what remained of parent club SV Blitz Breslau adopted the name Verein für Rasenspiel 1897 Breslau on 2 May 1907 and then went on to enjoy their own successes. They followed SC as three time VBBB champions from 1908–1910 and as Südostdeutscher titlists in 1908 and 1910, VfR also went out in the quarter finals in their two national level appearances. Several members of SC left the club in 1919 to create a department within Turnverein Vorwärts Breslau. This club later merged with 1911 Krietern to form FV Rapide Breslau, SC and Rapid were united in 1924 to form Schlesien 01 Rapid Breslau. By 1925 this club was again playing simply as SC Schlesien Breslau, in 1934 these threads were all brought together when VfR and SC were re-united as VfR Schlesien 1897 Breslau. The club was lost in 1945 in the aftermath of World War II, today, a leading Polish football and basketball club bears the name Śląsk Wrocław, the Polish-language equivalent to Schlesien Breslau. Founded in 1946, it is not related to the earlier German football club
5.
South Eastern German football championship
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The competition was disbanded in 1933. German football was, from its beginnings, divided into regional associations and these often pre-dated the national German championship. With the inception of the latter in 1903, the former became qualifying tournaments, regional championships still held a high value for the local clubs. At the end of the Second World War, some resumed, others, such as the Baltic championship, completely disappeared, especially if the territories they were held in were no longer part of Germany. With the South West German football championship, a new regional competition also appeared in 1945, ultimately, with the formation of the Fußball-Bundesliga, regional championships ceased altogether. With the defeat of the German Empire in 1918 and the formation of a Republic, for most of the Prussian provinces, this only meant that the Kingdom was replaced with the Free State of Prussia. A small strip along the border remained with Germany and became the border province Posen-West Prussia, no results beyond the final are known. The winner of this first competition took part in the fourth edition of the national German championship. Clubs from the south east of Germany had already taken part in the edition of the competition. No club from the south east ever reached the German championship final, to qualify for the South Eastern German championship, a club had to take out the title in its regional competition or league. As more football clubs were formed in Germany, the number of leagues increased, originally, from 1907, four regional champions took part from the following regions, Breslau Niederlausitz Niederschlesien Oberschlesien In 1910, Posen was added as a fifth region. In 1911, the Oberlausitz champions joined, the second edition was played out in the knockout modus again, but now involving four clubs, a system that remained in place until 1910, when the number of clubs was enlarged to six. In its last pre-First World War season,1914, the competition was enlarged to seven clubs, in 1914-15, football in Germany had come to an almost complete halt. As it became clear, that the war would last longer than anticipated, in most regions of Germany, like the South, the championships were restarted from 1915 onwards but in the South East, this was not so. A south eastern championship was not played again until 1920, the 1920 championship resumed in the same fashion as the last one had finished in 1914, seven clubs in a knockout competition. The champions, Sportfreunde Breslau, achieved the greatest success of any south eastern club so far in the title games. In 1921, the competition was staged with six clubs. Clubs from Posen, now Poznań, did not enter the championship anymore as the city had become part of Poland, play was further disrupted in 1922
6.
Hertha BSC
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Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V. commonly known as Hertha BSC, Hertha Berlin or simply Hertha, is a German association football club based in the Charlottenburg locality of Berlin. Hertha BSC play in the Bundesliga, the division of German football. Bundesliga table at the end of the 2012–13 season, Hertha BSC was founded in 1892, and was a founding member of the German Football Association in Leipzig in 1900. The team won the German championship in 1930 and 1931, since 1963, Herthas stadium has been the Olympiastadion. The club is known as Die Alte Dame in German, which translates to The Old Lady, in 2002, the sports activities of the professional, amateur, and under-19 teams were separated into Hertha BSC GmbH & Co. The name Hertha is a variation on Nerthus referring to fertility goddess from Germanic mythology, Hertha performed consistently well on the field, including a win in the first Berlin championship final in 1905. In May 1910, Hertha won a match against Southend United. However, their success was not matched financially and in 1920 the staunchly working-class Hertha merged with the well-heeled club Berliner Sport-Club to form Hertha Berliner Sport-Club. The new team continued to enjoy success in the Oberliga Berlin-Brandenburg. Notwithstanding, Hertha emerged as the Germanys second most successful team during the inter-war years, German football was re-organized under the Third Reich in 1933 into 16 top-flight divisions, which saw Hertha playing in the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg. The club continued to enjoy success within their division, regularly finishing in the half of the table. It faded from prominence, however, unable to advance out of the rounds of the national championship rounds. Politically, the club was overhauled under Hitler, with Hans Pfeifer, after World War II, occupying Allied authorities banned most organizations in Germany, including sports and football clubs. Hertha was re-formed late in 1945 as SG Gesundbrunnen and resumed play in the Oberliga Berlin – Gruppe C, by the end of 1949, it had re-claimed their identity as Hertha BSC and earned a return to the top-flight. Tensions between the western Allies and the Soviets occupying various sectors of the city, and the developing Cold War, led to chaotic conditions for football in the capital. Hertha was banned from playing against East German teams in the 1949–50 season after taking on several players, a number of sides from the eastern half of the city were forced from the Oberliga Berlin to the newly established DDR-Liga beginning with the 1950–51 season. Through the 1950s, a rivalry developed with Tennis Borussia Berlin. A proposal for a merger between the two clubs in 1958 was resoundingly rejected, with three of the 266 members voting in favour
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