The 1963–64 DDR-Oberliga was the 15th season of 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 ...

, the first tier of league football 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 ...

. The league was contested by fourteen teams. BSG Chemie Leipzig won the championship, the club's sole national East German championship. Football in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

had been reorganised after the 1962–63 season with the two Oberliga clubs from the city, SC Lokomotive Leipzig and SC Rotation Leipzig, seeing their playing squads merged and then divided up again. The nominally best players were allocated to the new

SC Leipzig 1. Fußballclub Lokomotive Leipzig e.V. is a German football club based in the locality of Probstheida in the Südost borough of Leipzig, Saxony. The club may be more familiar to many of the country's football fans as the historic side VfB Lei ...

club, later to become 1. FC Lok Leipzig. The nominally weaker players were allocated to BSG Chemie Leipzig which had its Oberliga place returned it had lost to SC Lokomotive in 1954. The fact that the nominally weaker Chemie squad won the league while SC Leipzig only came third is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in the history of East German football. Football in

Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 28th largest city of Germany as ...

, now Chemnitz, was reorganised, too with the football department of

SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt Fußball Club Erzgebirge Aue e.V., commonly known as simply FC Erzgebirge Aue or Erzgebirge Aue (), is a German football club based in Aue-Bad Schlema, Saxony. The former East German side was a founding member of the 3. Liga in 2008–09, ...

returning to

Aue Aue may refer to: * Aue (toponymy), a frequent element in German toponymy meaning "wetland; river island; river" Places * Aue, Saxony, a mining town in Saxony, Germany * Aue (Samtgemeinde), a collective municipality in Uelzen District, Lower Sax ...

where it had played despite its name and joining BSG Wismut Aue again. SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt then merged with SC Motor Karl-Marz-Stadt to form

SC Karl-Marx-Stadt SC Karl-Marx-Stadt was a sports club located at Karl-Marx-Stadt in the German Democratic Republic. Established in 1945, the sports club went through a variation of name changes until 1 July 1963, settling with SC Karl-Marx-Stadt, which lasted unt ...

, now Chemnitzer FC. Gerd Backhaus of BSG Lokomotive Stendal was the league's top scorer with 15 goals. For the second time the title

East German Footballer of the year The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 1960. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title Women's Footballer of the Year (German ...

was awarded, going to

Klaus Urbanczyk Klaus Urbanczyk (born 4 June 1940 in Halle (Saale)), nicknamed Banne, is a former East German football player and manager. Urbanczyk began his football career at Turbine Halle in 1948. Beginning in 1960, he played for the team, which was ren ...

of SC Chemie Halle. On the strength of the 1963–64 title Chemie Leipzig qualified for the

1964–65 European Cup The 1964–65 European Cup, the 10th season of the football club tournament, was won by Internazionale for the second time in row, in a final match against two-time former champions Benfica, making it three consecutive titles for Italy (Milan ha ...

where the club was knocked out by Vasas ETO Győr in the preliminary round. Eleventh-placed club SC Aufbau Magdeburg qualified for the

1964–65 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1964–65 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by West Ham United in a final at Wembley Stadium against 1860 Munich. West Ham's Bobby Moore captained a side that also included Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters ju ...

as the seasons

FDGB-Pokal The FDGB-Pokal (Freier Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund Pokal or Free German Trade Union Federation Cup) was an elimination football tournament held annually in East Germany. It was the second most important national title in East German football aft ...

winner and was knocked out by

Galatasaray S.K. Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

in the first round. Third-placed

qualified for the

1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The 1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was the seventh Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The competition was won by Ferencváros, who beat Juventus in the final at the Italians' home ground, the Stadio Comunale in Turin. It was only the second time that a S ...

where it was knocked out in the first round by

Wiener Sportclub The Wiener Sport-Club, sometimes abbreviated as WSC, was established in 1883 in Vienna, Austria and is one of the country's oldest athletics clubs. Their traditional home is in the Dornbach quarter of the city ( 17th district). History At vari ...

Table

The 1963–64 season saw two newly promoted clubs, BSG Motor Steinach and BSG Lokomotive Stendal.

Results

References

Sources

External links

Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv
Historic German league tables {{DEFAULTSORT:Ddr-Oberliga 1963-64 Ober 1963-64 1