The 1951–52 Oberliga was the seventh season of the Oberliga, the first tier of the

football league system Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and the

Saar Protectorate The Saar Protectorate (german: Saarprotektorat ; french: Protectorat de la Sarre) officially Saarland (french: Sarre) was a French protectorate separated from Germany; which was later opposed by the Soviet Union, one side occupying Germany like ...

. The league operated in five regional divisions,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

. The five league champions and the runners-up from the south, north and west then entered the 1952 German football championship which was won by

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

. It was VfB Stuttgart's second

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

, having previously won it in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

. The 1951–52 season saw the return of the clubs from the

to the West German league system which had left in 1948, 1. FC Saarbrücken and

Borussia Neunkirchen Borussia VfB Neunkirchen is a German association football club based in Neunkirchen, Saarland. The club ''SC Borussia Neunkirchen'' was founded out of the 1907 merger of ''FC 1905 Borussia'' and ''SC Neunkirchen''. History From 1912 through t ...

rejoining the Oberliga Südwest. Eventually, on 1 January 1957, the Saar Protectorate would officially join West Germany, ending the post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

political separation of the territory from the other parts of Germany. A similar-named league, the

DDR-Oberliga The DDR-Oberliga (English: ''East German Premier League'' or ''GDR Premier League'') was the top-level association football league in East Germany. Overview Following World War II, separate sports competitions emerged in the occupied eastern ...

, existed in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, set at the first tier of the

East German football league system The football league system of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, German: ''Deutsche Demokratische Republik'' or DDR) existed from 1949 until shortly after German reunification in 1991. Structure For most of its history, competitive GDR footba ...

. The 1951–52 DDR-Oberliga was won by

Turbine Halle Turbine Halle is a sports club based in the quarter of Giebichenstein in the city of Halle in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt. With about 1,000 members in departments for track and field, association football, speedskating, table tennis, ...

Oberliga Nord

The 1951–52 season saw two new clubs in the league,

Victoria Hamburg SC Victoria Hamburg is a German association football club from the city of Hamburg. The football team is part of a larger sports club that has departments for badminton, handball, hockey, athletics, tennis, table tennis (playing as SG Victoria ...

and

Lüneburger SK Lüneburger Sport-Klub von 1901 e. V. was one of the oldest and most successful football clubs from the Lüneburg area until it merged with Lüneburger SV in 2008 to become Lüneburger SK Hansa. History The club was established on 1 April 1901 ...

, both promoted from the Amateurliga. The league's top scorer was Ernst-Otto Meyer of VfL Osnabrück with 29 goals, the highest total for the five Oberligas in 1951–52.

Oberliga Berlin

The 1951–52 season saw two new clubs in the league, BFC Nordstern and

VfL Nord Berlin VfL Nord Berlin was a German association football club from the city of Berlin. It was formed on 21 May 1947 in the aftermath of World War II as the successor to Berliner Fußball-Club which was established 15 October 1896 and was one of the ...

, both promoted from the

Amateurliga Berlin The Amateur-Oberliga Berlin was the second tier of the German football league system in the city of West Berlin in Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963, operating under the name of Amateurliga Berlin. After 1963, it was ...

. The league's top scorer was Horst Schmutzler of Tennis Borussia Berlin with 25 goals.

Oberliga West

The 1951–52 season saw three new clubs in the league,

Meidericher SV Meidericher Spielverein 02 e. V. Duisburg, commonly known as simply MSV Duisburg (), is a German association football club based in Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. Nicknamed ''Die Zebras'' for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was on ...

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, th ...

and

Schwarz-Weiß Essen Schwarz-Weiß Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The side has its origins in the gymnastics club ''Essener Turnerbund'' founded in 1881. A football department was formed in January 1900 and this b ...

, all promoted from the

2. Oberliga West The (English: 2nd Premier League West) was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the west of Germany from 1949 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most popu ...

. The league's top scorer was Karl Hetzel of Meidericher SV with 25 goals.

Oberliga Südwest

The 1951–52 season saw four new clubs in the league, VfR Frankenthal and SpVgg Weisenau promoted from the Amateurliga, while 1. FC Saarbrücken and

joined from the

Ehrenliga Saarland The Amateurliga Saarland was the highest football league in the state of Saarland and the third tier of the German football league system from 1951, when the clubs from the Saar returned to Germany, till the formation of the Oberliga Südwest an ...

. The league's top scorer was Gerhard Siedl of Borussia Neunkirchen with 27 goals.

Oberliga Süd

The 1951–52 season saw two new clubs in the league,

Viktoria Aschaffenburg SV Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg is a German football club based in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria. Even though Aschaffenburg is located in Bavaria, Viktoria Aschaffenburg historically played its football in the Hessenliga (V) and the associated Hessian le ...

and

Stuttgarter Kickers Stuttgarter Kickers is a German association football club that plays in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, founded on 21 September 1899 as FC Stuttgarter Cickers. History In its early years the club had a decent local squad that played in the Südk ...

, both promoted from the

2. Oberliga Süd The 2. Oberliga Süd was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the south of Germany from 1950 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the three states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse. Overvi ...

. The league's top scorers were

Max Morlock Maximilian Morlock (; 11 May 1925–10 September 1994) was a German footballer active in the 1950s and early 1960s. In his time with the West Germany national team, he earned 26 caps and scored 21 goals. His position was that of an inside ri ...

(1. FC Nürnberg) and Helmut Preisendörfer (Kickers Offenbach) with 26 goals each.

German championship

The 1952 German football championship was contested by the eight qualified Oberliga teams and won by

, defeating 1. FC Saarbrücken in the final. The eight clubs played a home-and-away round of matches in two groups of four. The two group winners then advanced to the final.Das Finale der Deutschen Meisterschaft 1951/1952
Fussballdaten.de, accessed: 21 December 2015

Group 1

Group 2

Final

References

Sources

* ''30 Jahre Bundesliga'' 30th anniversary special, publisher: '' kicker Sportmagazin'', published: 1993 * ''kicker-Almanach 1990'' Yearbook of German football, publisher: ''kicker Sportmagazin'', published: 1989, * ''DSFS Liga-Chronik seit 1945'' publisher: DSFS, published: 2005 * ''100 Jahre Süddeutscher Fußball-Verband'' 100 Years of the Southern German Football Federation, publisher: SFV, published: 1997

External links

The Oberligas on Fussballdaten.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberliga, 1951-52 1951-52 1 Ger