The 1953–54 Oberliga was the ninth 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 lik ...

. The league operated in five regional divisions,

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

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 or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

, South,

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 Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

. The five league champions and the runners-up from the south then entered the 1954 German football championship which was won by Hannover 96. It was Hannover's second

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or 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 best team, indi ...

, having previously won it in 1938 in an epic final against FC Schalke 04 that saw two extra time games before Hannover won 4–3. Hannover 96 equaled the Oberliga start record set in 1952–53 by 1. FC Köln, winning its first eleven games, a mark later equaled by

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

in 1961–62 but never surpassed. A similar-named league, the DDR-Oberliga, 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

1953–54 DDR-Oberliga The 1953–54 DDR-Oberliga was the fifth season of the DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of league football in East Germany. The league was contested by fifteen teams, two less than in the previous season, and BSG Turbine Erfurt won the championsh ...

was won by Turbine Erfurt.

Oberliga Nord

The 1953–54 season saw two new clubs in the league, Eintracht Braunschweig and

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 ...

, both promoted from the Amateurliga. The league's top scorer was Fritz Apel (Arminia Hannover) and Werner Heitkamp (FC St. Pauli) with 21 goals each. Hannover 96 became the only team other than Hamburger SV to win the Oberliga Nord as the latter won 15 of the possible 16 league championships from 1947 to 1963 but missed out in 1953–54.

Oberliga Berlin

The 1953–54 season saw two new clubs in the league, Kickers 1900 Berlin and

Hertha Zehlendorf The Hertha Zehlendorf is a German football club from the suburb of Zehlendorf in Berlin. The club is one of the largest football clubs in the country and has a strong youth department which has won two national youth championships. The depar ...

, 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

Hermann Paul Hermann Otto Theodor Paul (August 7, 1846, Salbke – December 29, 1921, Munich) was a German philologist, linguist and lexicographer. Biography He studied at Berlin and Leipzig, and in 1874 became professor of German language and literatu ...

of Berliner SV 1892 with 19 goals.

Oberliga West

The 1953–54 season saw two new clubs in the league, Rheydter SV and

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as simply VfL Bochum (), is a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has spent 35 seasons in the Bundeslig ...

, both promoted from the 2. Oberliga West. The league's top scorer was

Hans Schäfer Hans Schäfer (19 October 1927 – 7 November 2017) was a German footballer who played as an outside left. Career Schäfer was born in Zollstock, Cologne. He played for 1. FC Köln between 1948 and 1965, and for the West Germany national team, e ...

of 1. FC Köln with 26 goals.

Oberliga Südwest

The 1953–54 season saw two new clubs in the league, ASV Landau and VfR Frankenthal, both promoted from the

2. Oberliga Südwest The (English: 2nd Premier league Southwest) was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1951 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the two states of Rhineland-Palatinate a ...

. The league's top scorer was Herbert Martin of 1. FC Saarbrücken with 35 goals, the highest total for any scorer in the five Oberligas in 1953–54.

Oberliga Süd

The 1953–54 season saw two new clubs in the league,

Jahn Regensburg Sport- und Schwimmverein Jahn Regensburg e. V., commonly known as SSV Jahn Regensburg, Jahn Regensburg, SSV Jahn or simply Jahn is a German football club based in Regensburg, Bavaria. The club is based on a gymnastics club founded in 1886 a ...

and

KSV Hessen Kassel KSV Hessen Kassel is a semi-professional German football club based in Kassel, Hesse. KSV competes in the German Regionalliga Südwest, the fourth tier of German football. Nicknamed "Die Löwen" (the lions), the club was founded as FC Union ...

, 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 scorer was Helmut Preisendörfer (Kickers Offenbach) and

Horst Schade Horst Schade (10 July 1922 – 28 February 1968) was a German football player and manager. Schade began his career with Dresdner SC Dresdner Sportclub 1898 e.V., known simply as Dresdner SC, is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, S ...

(1. FC Nürnberg) with 22 goals each.

German championship

The 1954 German football championship was contested by the six qualified Oberliga teams and won by Hannover 96, defeating

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

in the final. The six clubs played single round of matches at neutral grounds in two groups of three. The two group winners then advanced to the final.Das Finale der Deutschen Meisterschaft 1953/1954
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, 1953-54 1953-54 1 Ger