DFC Germania Prag was a German association football club from the city of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. It was one of many clubs formed by players of ethnic German origin in that part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire that would become

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. These clubs would play a role in the early development of the sport there and in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. Alongside ''

DFC Prag The Deutscher Fußball-Club Prag, commonly known as DFC Prag, was a football club based in Prague. The club was founded on 25 May 1896 by a group of German Jews in Prague, which at the time of its founding was the capital of the Kingdom of Bohem ...

'' it was a founding member of the Deutscher Fussball Bund (German Football Association) at

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 ...

in 1900. __TOC__

History

After playing for both '' Regatta Prag'' and ''DFC Prag'', Heinrich Nonner decided to organize his own club and established ''Unitas Prag'' in 1898. The club was soon renamed ''Urania'' and then finally ''Germania'' and quickly had its own field and clubhouse. Founder and captain Nonner attended the inaugural meeting of the DFB to represent the team. Early in its history the club played in the Verband der Deutschen Prager Fussballvereine (Federation of German Football Teams in Prague) and captured the league title in 1902. The next season, in one of a series of quirks of history that eventually led ''DFC Prag'' to the first-ever German national final, that club was selected as the league's representative in the German championship round despite being tied with ''Germania'' and a third club in the still incomplete VDPF championship. In 1903, ''Germania'' abandoned Prague for the bordertown of

Graslitz Kraslice (; german: Graslitz) is a town in Sokolov District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,500 inhabitants. It was a large and important town until the World War II. It is known for manufacture of musical instrumen ...

to become ''DFC Graslitz''. When Germany joined

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

in 1904, Czech teams were no longer eligible for play in the DFB. FIFA rebuffed attempts to create ethnic German and Slavic football associations within the borders of the fractious Austro-Hungarian empire, preferring to stay clear of politics. These clubs became part of the domestic Czech league. After the annexation of the

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

by the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1938 the club joined the

Gauliga Sudetenland The Gauliga Sudetenland, was the highest Association football, football league in the ''Sudetenland'', the predominantly German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia that were awarded to the German Reich on 30 September 1938 through the Munich Agreemen ...

, a top-flight division established to accommodate clubs in the region within the league structure of German football. Re-organized as ''NSTG Graslitz'' (Nationalsozialistische Turngemeinde Graslitz or National Socialist Gymnastics Organization of Graslitz) in 1939 the team captured the divisional title in 1940 and went on to make an appearance in the preliminary round of play for the Tschammerpokal, predecessor of today's

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

, being put out 0:4 by eventual cup winner ''

Dresdner SC Dresdner Sportclub 1898 e.V., known simply as Dresdner SC, is a German multisport List of football clubs in Germany, club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a Founding Clubs of the DFB, founding member of the Germa ...

''. ''Graslitz'' played only a partial season in 1940–41 and was then out of the

Gauliga A Gauliga () was the highest level of play in German football from 1933 to 1945. The leagues were introduced in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of power by the National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise. Name The German word '' ...

until returning for a single season in 1943–44. The team folded after the liberation of Czechoslovakia at the end of World War II.

Honours

* VDPF champions: 1902 *

champions: 1940

External links

Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
historical German football league tables {{DEFAULTSORT:Prag Germania DFC Defunct football clubs in Germany Defunct football clubs in the Czech Republic Germania Prag Football clubs in Austria-Hungary Association football clubs established in 1899 Association football clubs disestablished in 1945 German association football clubs outside Germany 1899 establishments in Austria-Hungary 1945 disestablishments in Czechoslovakia