The Nordkreis-Liga (English: ''Northern district league'') was the highest

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

league in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Grand Duchy of Hesse The Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine (german: link=no, Großherzogtum Hessen und bei Rhein) was a grand duchy in western Germany that existed from 1806 to 1918. The Grand Duchy originally formed from the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1806 ...

and the

Prussian 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

Hesse-Nassau The Province of Hesse-Nassau () was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1868 to 1918, then a province of the Free State of Prussia until 1944. Hesse-Nassau was created as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 by combining the p ...

from 1909 to 1918. The league was disbanded with the introduction of the

Kreisliga Nordmain The Kreisliga Nordmain (English: ''District league North Main'') was the highest association football league in parts of the German state of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1919 to 1923. The league was disbanded with the introd ...

Kreisliga Südmain The Kreisliga Südmain (English: ''District league South Main'') was the highest association football league in parts of the German state of Hesse from 1919 to 1923. The league was disbanded with the introduction of the Bezirksliga Main in 1923. ...

and

Kreisliga Hessen The Kreisliga Hessen (English: ''District league Hesse'') was the highest association football league in parts of the German state of Hesse (''Rheinhessen'') and parts of the Bavarian region of Palatinate as well as the Prussian province of Hesse- ...

in 1919.

History

The league was formed in a move to improve the organisation of football in Southern Germany in the early 1900s. Within the structure of the

Southern German football championship The Southern German football championship (German: ''Süddeutsche Meisterschaft'') was the highest association football competition in the southern Germany, established in 1898. The competition was disbanded in 1933 with the rise of the Nazis to p ...

, four regional leagues were gradually established from 1908, these being: * ''

Ostkreis-Liga The Kreisliga Bayern (English: ''District league Bavaria'') was the highest association football league in the German Kingdom of Bavaria and, later, the state of Bavaria from 1909 to 1923. The league was disbanded with the introduction of the Bezi ...

'', ''covering Bavaria'' * ''Nordkreis-Liga'', ''covering Hesse'' * ''

Südkreis-Liga The Südkreis-Liga (English: ''Southern district league'') was the highest association football league in the German Empire, German Kingdom of Württemberg, Grand Duchy of Baden, the Province of Hohenzollern and Alsace-Lorraine from 1908 to 1918. ...

'', ''covering Württemberg, Baden and Alsace'' * ''

Westkreis-Liga The Westkreis-Liga (English: ''Western district league'') was the highest association football league in the Bavarian region of Palatinate, the northern parts of the Grand Duchy of Baden, the southern parts of the Prussian Rhine Province and par ...

'', ''covering the Palatinate, Lorraine and the southern Rhine Province'' Until then, regional leagues had existed which send their champions to the ''Kreis'' finals and, from there, the winners went on to the Southern and German championships. In 1909, the ''Nordkreis-Liga'' was established, consisting of twelve clubs and playing a home-and-away season, these clubs being: * Viktoria 1894 Hanau *

SV Wiesbaden SV, Sv, sv, etc. may refer to: Places and language * El Salvador, ISO 3166-1 country code SV * South Vietnam, an extinct state * Svalbard, Norway, FIPS country code SV * Swedish language, ISO 639-1 language code sv * Silicon Valley, a region in n ...

FSV Frankfurt Fußballsportverein Frankfurt 1899 e.V., commonly known as simply FSV Frankfurt, is a German association football club based in the Bornheim district of Frankfurt am Main, Hesse and founded in 1899. FSV Frankfurt also fielded a rather successfu ...

FC Hanau 93 FC Hanau 93 is a German association football club based in Hanau, Hesse. History Early history Founded in 1893, the club is Hesse's oldest. In its first year, the club was winless in a half dozen matches, but the next season emerged as south ...

Amicitia Bockenheim SG Rot-Weiss Frankfurt 01 is a German association football club from Frankfurt am Main. The association was founded on 11 November 1901 as FV Amicitia 1901 Bockenheim in what is today the city district of Bockenheim. History Early years The Fr ...

Kickers Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germ ...

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Kickers, also known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left established local clubs in ...

Viktoria Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Ger ...

* Germania Bockenheim * Britannia Frankfurt * Germania Bieber * Fvgg Bockenheim Viktoria 1894 Hanau, the first league champion, qualified thereby for the Southern German championship, where it came last out of four clubs. In its second year, the league operated with thirteen clubs, with the

Germania 94 Frankfurt VfL Germania 1894 is a German association football club from the city of Frankfurt am Main. The club is notable as one of the Founding Clubs of the DFB (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) in Leipzig in 1900.Grüne, Hardy ...

joining the league. In 1911-12, the league played with twelve clubs again, Amicitia Frankfurt having been disqualified. In 1912-13, the league was reduced to eight clubs and the Nordkreis champion, for the first time since the interception of the league, didn't come last in the Southern German finals, finishing second instead. In the last pre-

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

season, 1913–14, things remained unchanged and champions Frankfurter FV finished runners-up in Southern Germany once more. The war starting in August 1914 meant an end to the league, no championship was played in 1914-15 at all. In the following three seasons, regional leagues operated, like before 1908. A Nordkreis championship as well as a Southern German one was played, but no national title games were held. With the end of the war in November 1918, football came to a halt once more. New leagues started to operate from 1919 and in the region that previously had formed the Nordkreis, the

and

were formed.''Süddeutschlands Fussball in Tabellenform 1897 - 1988'', author: Ludolf Hyll, page: 62, accessed: 17 May 2009

National success

The Nordkreis was one of the weaker regions as football was concerned in this era, taking out no Southern German championships at the time and never qualifying for the German championship.

Southern German championship

Qualified teams and their results: *

1910 German football championship The 1910 German football championship, the eighth edition of the competition and organised by the German Football Association, was won by Karlsruher FV, defeating Holstein Kiel 1–0 in the final. For Karlsruher FV it marked the club's sole Germa ...

: Viktoria 94 Hanau, ''4th'' * 1911: SV Wiesbaden, ''4th'' * 1912: Frankfurter FV, ''4th'' * 1913: Frankfurter FV, ''Runners-up'' * 1914: Frankfurter FV, ''Runners-up'' * 1916: FC Hanau 93, ''Semi-finals'' * 1917: FSV Frankfurt, ''3rd'' * 1918: Amicitia 02 Frankfurt, ''Semi-finals''

German championship

''None qualified.''

Winners and runners-up of the Nordkreis-Liga and championship

Placings in the Nordkreis-Liga 1909-14

* ¹ ''Viktoria'' and ''Kickers'' merged in 1911 to form ''Frankfurter FV'', which, in turn, formed

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

in 1920.

References

Sources

* ''Fussball-Jahrbuch Deutschland'' (8 vol.), Tables and results of the German tier-one leagues 1919-33, publisher: DSFS * ''Kicker Almanach'', The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine * ''Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897-1988'' History of Southern German football in tables, publisher & author: Ludolf Hyll

External links

The Gauligas
''Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv''
German league tables 1892-1933
''Hirschi's Fussball seiten''

at RSSSF.com {{UEFA leagues 1 1909 establishments in Germany 1918 disestablishments in Germany Football competitions in Hesse 20th century in Hesse Southern German football championship Sports leagues established in 1909 Ger