The Länderpokal (English: ''States Cup'') is the oldest cup competition of the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

. It came into existence as the ''Kronprinzenpokal'' (English:''

Crown Prince A crown prince or hereditary prince is the heir apparent to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. The female form of the title, crown princess, is held by a woman who is heir apparent or is married to the heir apparent. ''Crown prince ...

Cup'') but has changed its name various times since. The cup is held annually at the Sportschule Duisburg-Wedau. Contestants in the cup are teams of the 21 regional football associations, composed of youth players from that area. Also guest teams are invited each year since 2005, which play in the competition but will not be awarded a place in the final standings. In the past, the cup was contested by senior regional selections, later by senior amateur selections from the Amateur-Oberligas and below. In the mid-1990s, this was changed to Under-21 selections. In 1981 the a women's competition was introduced. Record titleholder for the men's competition is the Bavarian football association.

History

The competition was formed in 1908, when the German Crown Prince

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

donated a cup to the

- ''DFB'', to initiate the ''Kronprinzenpokal''. His only condition for the new competition was that the final was always to be played in Berlin.Kick it like Kronprinz

Spiegel Spiegel is German, Yiddish, and Dutch for "mirror". More specifically, it may refer to: Publications * ''Der Spiegel'', a weekly German magazine * ''Der Spiegel'' (website), the online sibling of ''Der Spiegel'' Political * Spiegel scandal, a 1 ...

Online, accessed: 11 June 2009 The trophy had an inscription engraved which it still bears today: The ''Kronprinzenpokal'' was initially contested by only seven teams, the selections of the seven regional German football associations, ''North'', ''South'', ''West'', ''Brandenburg'', ''Central'', ''South East'' and ''Baltic''. With the end of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the name of the competition was altered to reflect the fact, that Germany was not a monarchy anymore. The trophy donated by William with its inscription is however still used and handed to the winner each season.

Winners

Kronprinzenpokal

Held from 1909 to 1918, when the monarchy in Germany was abolished, the ''Crown Prince Cup'' was the first version of the tournament. It was contested between the selections of the seven regional football associations in Germany at the time. The competition was interrupted by the

and was not held in 1915 and 1916:

Bundespokal

The competition continued in its previous form after the end of the monarchy, in the new German Republic, now renamed ''Federal Cup'':

Reichsbundpokal

In 1933, with 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, the old regional football federations were abolished, football in Germany was centralized and 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 '' ...

s were introduced, 16 regional first divisions. A new competition to replace the Bundespokal was introduced in 1935, now contested by selections from the ''Gaue'', the new administrative subdivisions of Germany. This competition lasted until 1942, when the consequences caused by the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

made football more and more difficult.

Länderpokal

Staged for the first and only time after the Second World War, the State Cup was played in 1950 and won by Bavaria.

Amateur-Länderpokal

From 1951 onwards, the competition, now renamed ''Amateur State Cup'', was open only to non-professional players. It started out with the selections of the fifteen regional football federations 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 ...

, not including

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

Saarland Saarland (, ; ) is a state of Germany in the southwest of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and the smallest in ...

selections, the later entering a team from 1957. Selections from the five East German federations only started to participate after the German reunion. The now twenty-one regional football federations are not always identical in size to the current sixteen German federal states; a number of states have more than one federation. Since 2005, a final is not played anymore and the competitions winner is determined by a group stage. * ¹ North Baden declared the winner because Lower Rhine was unable to field a team for the rematch.

Competitors

1950 onwards

The selections of the twenty-one regional German football federations take part in the cup, these being: * ''Bavaria'' (''Bayern''), covering the state of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

* ''Berlin'', covering the city state of

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 ...

⁺ * ''Brandenburg'', covering the state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

⁺ * ''Bremen'', covering the city state of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

* ''Hamburg'' covering the city state of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

* ''Hesse'' (''Hessen''), covering the state of

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

* ''Lower Rhine'' (''Niederrhein''), covering the north western part of the state of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

* ''Lower Saxony'' (''Niedersachsen''), covering the state of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

* ''Mecklenburg-Vorpommern'', covering the state of

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

⁺ * ''Middle Rhine'' (''Mittelrhein''), covering the south western part of the state of

* ''North Baden'' (''Nordbaden''), covering the north western part of the state of

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

* ''Rhineland'' (''Rheinland''), covering the northern half of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

* ''Saarland'', covering the state of

* ''Saxony'' (''Sachsen''), covering the state of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

⁺ * ''Saxony-Anhalt'' (''Sachsen-Anhalt''), covering the state of

Saxony-Anhalt Saxony-Anhalt ( ; ) is a States of Germany, state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of and has a population of 2.17 million inhabitants, making it the List of German states ...

⁺ * ''Schleswig-Holstein'', covering the state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

* ''South Baden'' (''Südbaden''), covering the south western part of the state of

* ''South West'' (''Südwest''), covering the southern half of

* ''Thuringia'' (''Thüringen''), covering the state of

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

⁺ * ''Westphalia'' (''Westfalen''), covering the eastern part of the state of

* ''Württemberg'', covering the eastern part of the state of

, divided into north and south in the first edition in 1951. ** ⁺ Formerly part of East Germany, except Berlin, which was divided between East and West. ** German names in brackets, when different from English name.

References

Sources

* ''kicker Allmanach 1990'', by

kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (magazine), sports magazine in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the wor ...

, page 216 & 225 – ''Der Länderpokal der Amateure'' (German Amateur State Cup)

External links

Official website (in German)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Landerpokal Football cup competitions in Germany Recurring sporting events established in 1908 1908 establishments in Germany Wilhelm, German Crown Prince