The 1971–72 DDR-Oberliga was the 23rd 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. 1. FC Magdeburg won the championship, the club's first of three East German championships.

Hans-Jürgen Kreische Hans-Jürgen "Hansi" Kreische (born 19 July 1947) is a former East German footballer. Career Club career Kreische spent his entire career with his hometown club, Dynamo Dresden, scoring 127 goals in 234 DDR-Oberliga games between 1964 and 19 ...

of Dynamo Dresden was the league's top scorer with 14 goals, the second of a record four top scorer finishes for Kreische, while

Jürgen Croy Jürgen Croy (born 19 October 1946) is a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He made 86 appearances for the German Democratic Republic national team. Club career Born in Zwickau, Germany, Croy spent his entire footballing career at ...

of BSG Sachsenring Zwickau won the seasons

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 ...

award. On the strength of the 1971–72 title Magdeburg qualified for the

1972–73 European Cup The 1972–73 season of the UEFA Champions League, European Cup association football, football club tournament was won for the third consecutive time by AFC Ajax, Ajax in the final against Juventus F.C., Juventus at Red Star Stadium in Belgrade. T ...

where the club was knocked out by

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

in the second round. Fourth-placed club

FC Carl Zeiss Jena FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a German football club based in Jena, Thuringia. Formed in 1903 and initially associated with the Carl Zeiss AG factory, they were one of the strongest clubs in East Germany from the 1960s to the 1980s, winning the DDR-Obe ...

qualified for the

1972–73 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1972–73 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup Association football, football club tournament was won by A.C. Milan, Milan after a 1–0 victory against Leeds United F.C., Leeds United at the Kaftanzoglio Stadium, Thessaloniki, Gre ...

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 ...

winners and was knocked out by

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

in the second round. Second-placed

BFC Dynamo Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo e. V., commonly abbreviated to BFC Dynamo () or BFC (), alternatively sometimes called Dynamo Berlin, is a German football club based in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen of the borough of Lichtenberg of Berli ...

qualified for the 1972–73 UEFA Cup where it was knocked out in the third round by

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

while third-placed

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

lost to the same club in the quarter finals. Before the start of the season

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

club

FC Vorwärts Berlin 1. FC Frankfurt is a German football club based in Frankfurt (Oder), Brandenburg. The club was founded as the army club SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig in Leipzig in East Germany in 1951. The club won six East German championships as ASK Vorwärts Ber ...

, based in

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, was moved to

Frankfurt/Oder Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...

to become FC Vorwärts Frankfurt/Oder after a decision by the Ministry of Defence. The exact reasons for the relocation has not been fully clarified. Vorwärts had been quite a popular club with East Berlin football supporters, but was seen as an obstacle to the ambitions of

. BFC Dynamo was supported by the Ministry for State Security and its head Erich Mielke. The relocation was allegedly driven by Erich Mielke, who wanted to create better sporting conditions for BFC Dynamo in East Berlin, and his fellow Politburo member and

SED sed ("stream editor") is a Unix utility that parses and transforms text, using a simple, compact programming language. It was developed from 1973 to 1974 by Lee E. McMahon of Bell Labs, and is available today for most operating systems. sed wa ...

First Secretary in

Bezirk Frankfurt The Bezirk Frankfurt, also Bezirk Frankfurt (Oder), was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Frankfurt (Oder). History The district was established, with the other 13, on 25 July 1952, substituting ...

Erich Mückenberger Erich Mückenberger (1910 in Chemnitz – 1998 in Berlin) was a German socialist politician. He began his political career in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He became a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) when the ...

, who anticipated a boost for the Frankfurt/Oder region.

Table

The 1971–72 season saw two newly promoted clubs

FC Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitzer Fußballclub e.V. is a German association football club based in Chemnitz, Saxony. The club competes in Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football. The roots of the club go back to its establishment as Chemnitzer BC 193 ...

and ASG Vorwärts Stralsund.

Results

References

Sources

External links

Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv
Historic German league tables {{DEFAULTSORT:Ddr-Oberliga 1971-72 1 1971-72 Ober