The 1949–50 Oberliga was the fifth season of the Oberliga, the first tier of the football league system in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. The league operated in six regional divisions,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

Southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...

(north and south) and West. The five league champions and runners-up as well as the third and fourth placed teams in the West and South and the third placed team in the Southwest and North entered the

1950 German football championship The 1950 German football championship, the 40th edition of the competition, was the culmination of the 1949–50 football season in Germany. VfB Stuttgart won their first championship in a one-leg knock-out tournament. It was the third champions ...

which was won by

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

. It was VfB Stuttgart's first-ever national championship. The 1949–50 season was the last with clubs from

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

in the Oberliga, with VfB Pankow and Union Oberschöneweide leaving the league at the end of the season, thereby ending unified German league football for the next four decades. Union Oberschöneweide was replaced by the

West Berlin West Berlin ( or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin from 1948 until 1990, during the Cold War. Although West Berlin lacked any sovereignty and was under military occupation until German reunification in 1 ...

club Union 06 Berlin, formed by former Oberschöneweide players who had moved to the West. For the Oberliga Südwest, covering the whole of the French occupation zone in Germany, it was the last season of the league being divided into two regional divisions, north and south. The clubs from the southern division re-joined the Southern German Football Association at the end of seasons with two clubs entering the Oberliga Süd for the following season, three clubs the 2. Oberliga Süd and the rest being relegated to the Amateurligas. A similar-named league, the DDR-Oberliga, existed in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, set at the first tier of the East German football league system. The 1949–50 DDR-Oberliga, the inaugural season of the league, was won by ZSG Horch Zwickau.

Oberliga Nord

The 1949–50 season saw three new clubs promoted to the league,

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years between 19 ...

, Harburger TB and VfB Oldenburg, while Holstein Kiel was re-admitted after initially having been forcibly relegated during the previous season. The league's top scorer was Adolf Vetter of VfL Osnabrück with 28 goals, the third consecutive time he finished as top scorer.

Oberliga Berlin

The 1949–50 season saw three new clubs promoted to the league, Hertha BSC Berlin, VfB Britz and Tasmania 1900 Berlin. The league's top scorer was Heinz Rogge of Union Oberschöneweide with 29 goals.

Oberliga West

The 1949–50 season saw four new clubs promoted to the league, 1. FC Köln, Arminia Bielefeld, FV Duisburg 08 and Duisburger SV. The league's top scorer was Alfred Preißler of Borussia Dortmund with 24 goals.

Oberliga Südwest

Northern group

The 1949–50 season saw four new clubs promoted to the league, VfR Kaiserslautern, ASV Landau, VfR Kirn and FV Engers. The league's top scorers were Werner Baßler and Ottmar Walter of 1. FC Kaiserslautern with 45 goals each, the highest total for the Oberliga's in 1949–50.

Southern group

The 1949–50 season saw five new clubs promoted to the league, FV Kuppenheim, FV Lahr, SV Trossingen SV Hechingen and TV Ebingen. The division was disbanded at the end of the season.

Final

The winners of the two regional divisions of the Oberliga Südwest played a final to determine the league champion who was also directly qualified for the German championship: The runners-up of the two divisions determined the club who would face the loser of the championship final for the second place in the German championship: The third-placed teams of the two divisions determined the club who would face the loser of the second-place final for the third place in the German championship:

Oberliga Süd

The 1949–50 season saw two new clubs promoted to the league, SpVgg Fürth and Jahn Regensburg. The league's top scorer was Horst Schade of SpVgg Fürth with 21 goals.

German championship

The 1950 German football championship was contested by the eight qualified Oberliga teams and won by

, defeating Kickers Offenbach in the final. It was the last edition with sixteen clubs in the championship playing a knock-out format. From 1951 onwards the finals were played with eight clubs and in group stages.

References

Sources

* ''30 Jahre Bundesliga'' 30th anniversary special, publisher: '' kicker Sportmagazin'', published: 1993 * ''kicker-Almanach 1990'' Yearbook of German football, publisher: ''kicker Sportmagazin'', published: 1989, * ''DSFS Liga-Chronik seit 1945'' publisher: DSFS, published: 2005 * ''100 Jahre Süddeutscher Fußball-Verband'' 100 Years of the Southern German Football Federation, publisher: SFV, published: 1997

External links

The Oberligas on Fussballdaten.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oberliga, 1949-50 1949-50 1 Ger