The Gauliga Westphalia was the highest

football 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 ...

league in the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

province of Westphalia The Province of Westphalia () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 to 1946. In turn, Prussia was the largest component state of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, of the Weimar Republic and from 191 ...

and the small

Free State of Lippe The Free State of Lippe (german: Freistaat Lippe) was a German state formed after the Principality of Lippe was abolished following the German Revolution of 1918. After the end of World War II and Nazi regime, Lippe was restored. This autono ...

from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the '' Gaue'' '' Westphalia-North'' and '' Westphalia-South'' replaced the Prussian province and the Free State.

Overview

The league was introduced by the

Nazi Sports Office The National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (german: Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, abbreviated NSRL) was the umbrella organization for sports and physical education in Nazi Germany. The NSRL was ...

in 1933, after the Nazi take over of power in Germany . The ''Gauliga Westfalen'' was established with ten clubs, all from the Province of Westphalia. The Gauliga replaced as such a number of separate leagues covering the areas of ''Westphalia'', ''South Westphalia'' and ''Ruhr'', the highest leagues in the region until then. In its first season, the league had ten clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league winner qualified for the German championship while the bottom two teams were relegated. The league remained unchanged until 1940. Throughout its existence, the league was dominated by what became the golden era of the

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 ...

, who won it in every one of its eleven completed seasons. Schalke also took out the national championship in 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1942, along with being the losing finalist in 1938 and 1941. A cup win in 1937 and four lost finals in 1935, 1936, 1941 and 1942 were also added to this. Despite no other club from the region having any national success, this list means the ''Gauliga Westfalen'' was the single most successful league in Germany in this era. The start to the 1939–40 season was delayed with the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

on 1 September 1939 and league football was suspended. It only resumed at the beginning of November, with a number of local cup competitions having been played to bridge the gap.''Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 2'' Tables of the Gauligas 1933-45, Booklet 2, page: 24, publisher: DSFS In 1940–41, the league expanded to twelve clubs, with the bottom four teams relegated. The season after, it returned to its original set-up and remained so until 1944. The imminent collapse of

Nazi Germany 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 1945 gravely affected all ''Gauligas'' and the leagues last season, 1944–45, was meant to be staged in three regional groups with altogether 20 teams. Play never really got under way and no club absolved more than three matches, most none before it had to be suspended.

Aftermath

With the end of the Nazi era, the ''Gauligas'' ceased to exist and the region of Westphalia found itself in the British occupation zone. Football in Westphalia restarted in 1946 with the Landesliga Westfalen.

Founding members of the league

The ten founding members and their placings in the 1932–33 season were: *

, ''winner Ruhr division'' * SV Höntrop * SuS Hüsten 09, ''winner Südwestfalen division'' * SV Germania Bochum * SpVgg 12 Herten * DSC Hagen * SV Viktoria Recklingshausen *

Preußen Münster Preußen or Preussen is the German word for Prussia. It also refers to: Ships * ''Preußen'' (ship), windjammer built in 1902 * SMS ''Preußen'' (1873), armored frigate * SMS ''Preußen'' (1903), pre-dreadnought Battleship * , vorpostenboot ...

* Sportfreunde 95 Dortmund *

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

, ''winner Westfalen division''

Winners and runners-up of the league

The winners and runners-up of the league:

Placings in the league 1933-44

The complete list of all clubs participating in the league. Note that, in the 1944–45 season, the league was split into three separate groups but the competition was barely started before it came to a halt. * ¹ Germania Bochum and TuS Bochum merged in 1938 to form VfL Bochum. * ² The VfL Bochum and Preussen 07 Bochum formed the KSG Bochum for the 1943–44 season. * ³ The VfB Bielefeld and Arminia Bielefeld formed the KSG Bielefeld for the 1943–44 season. * ⁴ Gelsenguss Gelsenkirchen became Alemannia Gelsenkirchen in 1942.

References

Sources

* ''Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 1-3'' Tables of the Gauligas 1933–45, publisher: DSFS * ''Kicker Almanach'', The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine

External links

*
The Gauligas
''Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv''

at RSSSF.com {{Football in North Rhine-Westphalia Sports leagues established in 1933 1933 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany Gauliga Football competitions in North Rhine-Westphalia