The 1965–66 Bundesliga was the third season of the Bundesliga,

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 ...

's premier football league. It began on 14 August 1965 and ended on 28 May 1966. Werder Bremen were the defending champions.

Competition modus

Every team played two games against each other team, one at home and one away. Teams received two points for a win and one point for a draw. If two or more teams were tied on points, places were determined by goal average. The team with the most points were crowned champions while the two teams with the fewest points were relegated to their respective Regionalliga divisions.

Team changes to 1964–65

Karlsruher SC and

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

would initially have been relegated for finishing in the bottom two places. However, Hertha BSC were found guilty of illegal financial behavior and, as a consequence, had their Bundesliga license revoked. The

German FA The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) 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 o ...

then decided to keep Karlsruhe and Schalke in the league and expand its size to 18 teams. Bayern Munich and Borussia Mönchengladbach were promoted after having won their respective promotion play-off groups. In order to still have a representative from West

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in the league, the amateur side Tasmania Berlin were also granted promotion.

Season overview

The 1965–66 season was the inaugural season for the two most successful clubs regarding league titles in Bundesliga history, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayern Munich. It was also the first time that a city had two clubs in the Bundesliga. Bayern were a title contender for large parts of the season, but eventually were held short three points by their cross-town rivals 1860, who won their first championship. Nevertheless, the newcomers had something to celebrate as well, as they won the DFB Cup one week after the end of the season, which they finished in third place. Borussia Dortmund finished in second place, ahead on goal average to Bayern Munich. They also had huge title chances until late in the season, but were beaten 2–0 at home by 1860 on the second-to-last match day. However, Dortmund did not end the season without a title as well, as they beat

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

2–1 after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final at

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's Hampden Park three days earlier. It marked the first time that a German club had won a European championship. At the other end of the table, another famous German club had a historic season as well – but in the worst way possible. Tasmania Berlin were added to the league just two weeks before the start of the season after city rivals Hertha BSC had been thrown out on financial irregularities. They were not even first choice for a replacement as the Berlin representative, as they had only finished in third place in Regionalliga Berlin. But when champions Tennis Borussia were considered too weak after failing in the promotion play-off rounds and therefore were not asked, and runners-up Spandauer SV declined their interest in a Bundesliga spot as well, Tasmania gladly accepted the invitation by the

. The decision turned out to be a fatal one for the club. Tasmania's team was never capable of competing in the Bundesliga. They set up a various number of records, including, among others, lowest point total (8), fewest wins (2), most losses (28), fewest goals scored (15), most goals against (108) and lowest match attendance for a Bundesliga game (827 against Borussia Mönchengladbach on 15 January 1966). Most of the records are still intact.

Team overview

League table

Results

Top scorers

;31 goals * Lothar Emmerich ''( Borussia Dortmund)'' ;26 goals * Friedhelm Konietzka ''( TSV 1860 Munich)'' ;20 goals * Arnold Schütz ''( Werder Bremen)'' ;18 goals *

Peter Grosser Peter Grosser (28 September 1938 – 2 March 2021) was a German football player and coach. Club career As a player, he spent six seasons in the Bundesliga with TSV 1860 Munich, captaining the club for the 1965–66 Bundesliga title and scori ...

''( TSV 1860 Munich)'' *

Johannes Löhr Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as " John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, '' Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' ...

''(

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., commonly known as simply FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English, is a German professional football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 as a merger of the clubs ''Kölner Ballspi ...

)'' *

Manfred Pohlschmidt Manfred Pohlschmidt (born 27 August 1940) is a retired Germany, German Association football, football player. Career Pohlschmidt started his Bundesliga career with SC Preußen Münster in the 1963–64 season, the club's only season in the Bunde ...

''( Hamburger SV)'' ;17 goals *

Wilhelm Huberts Wilhelm Huberts (22 February 1938 – 4 March 2022), also known as Willi Huberts, was an Austrian footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Huberts began his career in his hometown with ASK Voitsberg. From there he was transferred to ...

''( Eintracht Frankfurt)'' * Lothar Ulsaß ''( Eintracht Braunschweig)'' ;16 goals * Bernd Rupp ''( Borussia Mönchengladbach)'' ;15 goals * Rudolf Brunnenmeier ''( TSV 1860 Munich)'' *

Hans Siemensmayer Hans Siemensmeyer (born 23 September 1940) is a retired Germany, German football player and coach. Career As a player, he spent nine seasons in the Bundesliga with Hannover 96. He also represented Germany national football team, Germany three t ...

''( Hannover 96)''

Champion squad

References

External links

DFB Archive 1965–66
{{DEFAULTSORT:1965-66 Bundesliga Bundesliga seasons 1

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