The Westkreis-Liga (English: ''Western 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 Bavarian region of Palatinate, the northern parts of the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

, the southern parts of 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 ...

Rhine Province The Rhine Province (german: Rheinprovinz), also known as Rhenish Prussia () or synonymous with the Rhineland (), was the westernmost province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia, within the German Reich, from 1822 to 1946. It ...

and parts of

Lorraine Lorraine , also , , ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; german: Lothringen ; lb, Loutrengen; nl, Lotharingen is a cultural and historical region in Northeastern France, now located in the administrative region of Gr ...

from 1908 to 1918. The league was disbanded with the introduction of the

Kreisliga Pfalz The Kreisliga Pfalz (English: ''District league Palatinate'') was the highest association football league in the Bavarian region of Palatinate from 1919 to 1923. The league was disbanded with the introduction of the Bezirksliga Rhein in 1923. Ove ...

Kreisliga Saar The Kreisliga Saar (English: ''District league Saar'') was the highest association football league in the Territory of the Saar Basin, governed by a League of Nations mandate, and parts of the Bavarian region of Palatinate and the Prussian Rhine ...

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 The Nordkreis-Liga (English: ''Northern district league'') was the highest association football league in the German Grand Duchy of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1909 to 1918. The league was disbanded with the introduction o ...

'', ''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'', ''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 1908, the ''Westkreis-Liga'' was established, consisting of seven clubs from the Palatinate, playing a home-and-away season, these clubs being: * FC 1900 Kaiserlautern *

FC Pfalz Ludwigshafen FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

* Palatia Kaiserslautern * Ludwigshafener FG 03 * Germania Ludwigshafen * Revida Ludwigshafen * Bavaria Kaiserslautern FC 1900 Kaiserlautern, the first league champion, qualified thereby for the Southern German championship, where it did not impress, finishing last with only one point out of six games. In its second year, the league expanded to nine clubs, now spanning a wider area and including clubs from

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

and

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

. In 1909-10, the league played in an unchanged format, but was reduced to eight clubs for the next season, a format it maintained until 1914. 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, with the SpVgg Metz, a club from Lorraine joined the league. 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 Westkreis 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. Lorraine ceased to be a part of Germany and the

German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for Football in Germany, association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 Season (sports), season consisted of 2,235 Sports_leag ...

, being awarded to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. New leagues started to operate from 1919 and in the parts of the Westkreis still with Germany, the

and

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

National success

The Westkreis 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 success: * 1909: FC 1900 Kaiserlautern, ''4th'' * 1910: Mannheimer FG Union 97, ''3rd'' * 1911: Mannheimer FG Union 97, ''3rd'' * 1912: FC Phönix Mannheim, ''Runners-up'' * 1913: VfR Mannheim, ''3rd'' * 1914: VfR Mannheim, ''4th'' * 1916: FC Pfalz Ludwigshafen, ''Runners-up'' * 1917: FC Pfalz Ludwigshafen, ''4th'' * 1918: FC Phönix Mannheim, ''Runners-up''

German championship

''None qualified.''

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

Placings in the Westkreis-Liga 1908-14

* ¹ In 1909, ''FC 1900'' merged with ''FC Palatia'' and ''FC Bavaria'' to form ''FV Kaiserslautern''. In 1929, this club merged with ''SV Phönix'' to form 1. FC Kaiserslautern. * ² In 1911, ''FG Union 97'' merged with ''FC Viktoria 97'' and ''FG 1896'' to form

VfR Mannheim VfR Mannheim is a Football in Germany, German association football club based in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg formed in 1911 out of the fusion of Mannheimer FG 1896, Mannheimer FG 1897 Union, and FC Viktoria 1897 Mannheim. The club captured the n ...

. * ³ ''SpVgg Metz'' (sometimes ''SV Metz'') players formed ''Cercle Athlétique Messin'' in 1919, which evolved to become

FC Metz Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz (), is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 2, the second division in the French football league sys ...

in 1932.

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 1908 establishments in Germany 1918 disestablishments in Germany Football competitions in Baden-Württemberg Football competitions in Hesse Football competitions in Rhineland-Palatinate Football competitions in Saarland 20th century in Baden-Württemberg 20th century in Hesse 20th century in Rhineland-Palatinate Southern German football championship Football competitions in Alsace-Lorraine Sports leagues established in 1908 Ger