The 1933–34 Gauliga was the inaugural season 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 '' ...

, the first tier of the

football league system Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' generally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

from 1933 to 1945. The Gauligas replaced the seven regional championships and the numerous local leagues which previously existed in Germany. The Gauligas were established after the rise of the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

to power in 1933. In the season previous to the establishment German football had been sub-divided into almost 70 local tier-one leagues with an average number of 10 clubs per league, resulting in close to 700 top level clubs. These leagues had, up till 1933, played out seven regional championships with the top clubs of those advancing to the national German championship. The league operated in sixteen regional divisions, of which two, the Gauliga Ostpreußen and Gauliga Pommern, were sub-divided into two regional groups again, with the league containing 178 clubs all up. The league champions entered the 1934 German football championship, won by

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, ...

who defeated 1. FC Nürnberg 2–1 in the final. It was Schalke's first-ever

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

and the club would go on to win five more during the Gauliga era of German football from 1933 to 1945. Viktoria Stolp, champions of the Gauliga Pommern, was the only club to remain unbeaten during the league season, winning all twelve games in the eastern division of the league and going on to win and draw in the two finals against western champions Stettiner SC. At the other end of the table three clubs finished the season with just one win, Viktoria Stralsund, Phönix Köslin and Schweriner FC.

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

scored the most goals of any Gauliga club with 91 while Schweriner FC conceded the most with 119. 1. FC Nürnberg and

Dresdner SC Dresdner Sportclub 1898 e.V., known simply as Dresdner SC, is a German multisport club playing in Dresden, Saxony. Founded on 30 April 1898, the club was a founding member of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund) in 1900. Th ...

achieved the highest points totals with 34 each while Viktoria Stralsund earned the least with two points to its name.

Champions

The 1933–34 Gauliga champions qualified for the group stage of the German championship. SV Waldhof Mannheim, Viktoria 89 Berlin, 1. FC Nuremberg and FC Schalke 04 won their championship groups and advanced to the semi-finals with the latter two reaching the championship final which Schalke won.

German championship

References

Sources

* ''kicker-Almanach 1990'' Yearbook of German football, publisher: ''kicker Sportmagazin'', published: 1989, * ''100 Jahre Süddeutscher Fußball-Verband'' 100 Years of the Southern German Football Federation, publisher: SFV, published: 1997 * ''Die deutschen Gauligen 1933–45 – Heft 1–3'' Tables of the Gauligas 1933–45, publisher: DSFS * ''Fußball-Jahrbuch Deutschland 1930/31 – 1932/33'' Tables of the top-level league's in Germany 1930–33, publisher: DSFS

External links

Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv
Historic German league tables {{DEFAULTSORT:Gauliga, 1933-34 1933-34 1 Ger