South Eastern German football championship

South Eastern German football championship
Founded
1906
Disbanded
1933
Nation
German Empire German Empire The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

Province Provinces of Prussia The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...
Silesia Province of Silesia The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
Posen Province of Posen The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
Number of Seasons
23
Replaced by
Gauliga Schlesien Gauliga Schlesien The Gauliga Schlesien was the highest football league in the region of Silesia , which consisted of the Prussian provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia from 1933 to 1945...
Level on Pyramid
Level 1 German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation...
Last Champions 1932-33
Beuthener SuSV 09 Beuthener SuSV 09 Beuthener SuSV 09 was a German association football club from the city of Beuthen, Upper Silesia in what was then part of Germany but is today Bytom, Poland.-History:...

The South Eastern German football championship (German: Südostdeutsche Fußball Meisterschaft) was the highest association football competition in the Prussian

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

provinces of Silesia

Province of Silesia

The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...

, which was divided into the Province of Lower Silesia

Province of Lower Silesia

The Province of Lower Silesia was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between 1938 and 1941 it was reunited with Upper Silesia as the Silesia Province. The capital of Lower Silesia was Breslau...

and the Province of Upper Silesia

Province of Upper Silesia

The Province of Upper Silesia was a province of the Free State of Prussia created in the aftermath of World War I. It comprised much of the region of Upper Silesia and was eventually divided into two administrative regions , Kattowitz and Oppeln...

after 1919, and Posen

Province of Posen

The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....

, which mostly became part of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

in 1919. The competition was disbanded in 1933.

Overview

German football was, from its beginnings, divided into regional associations, each of which carried out their own championship matches. These often pre-dated the national German championship

German football champions

The German football champions are the annual winners of the highest association football competition in Germany. The history of the German football championship is complex and reflects the turbulent history of the country through the course of the 20th century.Brought to the country by English...

. With the inception of the latter in 1903, the former became qualifying tournaments. Regional championships still held a high value for the local clubs. These regional championships were:

Southern German football championship
Southern German football championship
The Southern German football championship was the highest association football competition in the South of Germany, established in 1898...

- formed in 1898
Brandenburg football championship
Brandenburg football championship
The Brandenburg football championship was the highest association football competition in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, including Berlin, established in 1898...

- formed in 1898
Central German football championship
Central German football championship
The Central German football championship was the highest association football competition in Central Germany, in what is now the federal states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia, established in 1902...

- formed in 1902
Western German football championship
Western German football championship
The Western German football championship was the highest association football competition in Western Germany, in the Prussian Province of Westphalia, the Rhine Province, the northern parts of the province of Hesse-Nassau as well as the Principality of Lippe, later to become the Free State of Lippe...

- formed in 1903
March football championship - existed from 1903 to 1911
Northern German football championship
Northern German football championship
The Northern German football championship , operated by Norddeutscher Fußball-Verband , was the highest association football competition in Northern Germany, in the Prussian provinces of Schleswig-Holstein and Hanover and the German states of Hamburg, Lübeck, Mecklenburg-Schwerin,...

- formed in 1906
South Eastern German football championship - formed in 1906
Baltic football championship
Baltic football championship
The Baltic football championship was the highest association football competition in the Prussian provinces of East Prussia, Pomerania and West Prussia. The competition was disbanded in 1933....

- formed in 1908

Regional championships were suspended with the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933. At the end of the Second World War, some resumed, but in league format. Others, such as the Baltic championship, completely disappeared, especially if the territories they were held in were no longer part of Germany. With the South West German football championship, a new regional competition also appeared in 1945. Ultimately, with the formation of the Fußball-Bundesliga

Fußball-Bundesliga

The Fußball-Bundesliga is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of Germany's football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 18 teams and operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the 2. Bundesliga...

, regional championships ceased altogether.

Background

When the South Eastern German championship was established in 1906, the region of South Eastern Germany (German: Südostdeutschland) was politically part of the Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

, as the Province of Silesia

Province of Silesia

and the Province of Posen

Province of Posen

The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....

.

With the defeat of the German Empire

German Empire

The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

in 1918 and the formation of a Republic, the former Kingdoms and Principalities of Germany became states. For most of the Prussian provinces

Provinces of Prussia

The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...

, this only meant that the Kingdom was replaced with the Free State of Prussia

Free State of Prussia (1918-1933)

The Free State of Prussia was a German state formed after the abolition of the Kingdom of Prussia in the aftermath of World War I. It was the major state of Germany during the time of the Weimar Republic, comprising almost 5/8 of its territory and population...

. Silesia (German: Schlesien) however was subdivided into two new provinces, those being:

Province of Upper Silesia
Province of Upper Silesia
The Province of Upper Silesia was a province of the Free State of Prussia created in the aftermath of World War I. It comprised much of the region of Upper Silesia and was eventually divided into two administrative regions , Kattowitz and Oppeln...
Province of Lower Silesia
Province of Lower Silesia
The Province of Lower Silesia was a province of the Free State of Prussia from 1919 to 1945. Between 1938 and 1941 it was reunited with Upper Silesia as the Silesia Province. The capital of Lower Silesia was Breslau...

Additionally, parts of the former province of Silesia were awarded

Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...

to Poland

Poland

and Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

after the war, these being:

Hlučín Region
Hlucín Region
Hlučín Area is a part of Czech Silesia in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic, named after the largest town Hlučín. Its area is , in 2001 was inhabited by 73,914 citizens, thus the population density was 233 per km².-History:...

, to Czechoslovakia
Eastern parts of Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia
Upper Silesia is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia. Since the 9th century, Upper Silesia has been part of Greater Moravia, the Duchy of Bohemia, the Piast Kingdom of Poland, again of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as of...

, to Poland to become the Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
The Silesian Voivodeship was an autonomous province of the interwar Second Polish Republic. It consisted of territory which came into Polish possession as a result of the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, the Geneva Conventions, three Upper Silesian Uprisings, and the eventual partition of Upper...

Posen became almost completely part of Poland, as the Poznań Voivodeship. A small strip along the border remained with Germany and became the border province Posen-West Prussia

Posen-West Prussia

The border province of historical period Posen-West Prussia was a province of the Free State of Prussia. The capital was Schneidemühl . The province had an area of 7,695 km², and was located within present-day Poland....

(German: Grenzmark Posen-Westpreussen).

Football association

The South Eastern German Football Association was formed on 18 March 1906, thereby in cooperating all regional associations:

Verband Breslauer Ballspielvereine, formed 23 February 1902
Verband Niederlausitzer Ballspielvereine, formed 17 January 1904
Verband Kattowitzer Ballspiel Vereine, formed 1906

1906 to 1914

The South Eastern German football championship was first contested in 1906 and won by the SC Schlesien Breslau. No results beyond the final are known. The winner of this first competition then took part in the fourth edition of the national German championship. Clubs from the south east of Germany had already taken part in the previous edition of the competition, but not in 1903 or 1904. No club from the south east ever reached the German championship final and even semi-final appearances were limited to two occasions, 1920 and 1929.

To qualify for the South Eastern German championship, a club had to take out the title in its regional competition or league. As more football clubs were formed in Germany, the number of leagues increased and thereby also the numbers of clubs taking part in the South Eastern championship. Originally, from 1907, four regional champions took part from the following regions:

Breslau
Niederlausitz
Niederschlesien
Oberschlesien

In 1910, Posen was added as a fifth region. In 1911, the Oberlausitz champions joined.

The second edition was played out in the knockout modus again, but now involving four clubs, a system that remained in place until 1910, when the number of clubs was enlarged to six.

In its last pre-First World War season, 1914, the competition was enlarged to seven clubs, but remained unchanged otherwise.

1915 to 1919

In 1914-15, football in Germany had come to an almost complete halt. As it became clear, that the war would last longer than anticipated, local competitions restarted in 1915. In most regions of Germany, like the South, the championships were restarted from 1915 onwards but in the South East, this was not so. A south eastern championship was not played again until 1920.

1920 to 1933

The 1920 championship resumed in the same fashion as the last one had finished in 1914, seven clubs in a knockout competition. The champions, Sportfreunde Breslau, achieved the greatest success of any south eastern club so far in the national title games, when it reached the semi-finals, to bow out 4-0 to SpVgg Fürth.

In 1921, the competition was staged with only six clubs. Clubs from Posen

Poznan

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...

, now Poznań, did not enter the championship anymore as the city had become part of Poland. Play was further disrupted in 1922. The competition was to be staged as a five team league but could not be completed in time for the German finals because Preußen Kattowitz, from the now Polish city of Katowice

Katowice

Katowice is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, on the Kłodnica and Rawa rivers . Katowice is located in the Silesian Highlands, about north of the Silesian Beskids and about southeast of the Sudetes Mountains.It is the central district of the Upper Silesian Metropolis, with a population of 2...

, was initially unable to travel due to passport issues. The issue was later resolved and the championship completed. The 1923 edition was again held as a five team league, now without clubs from either Poznań or Katowice, each team playing the other once. Instead, a Mittleschlesien champion was added to the competition.

The five team league system remained in place for 1924 and was enlarged to six clubs in 1925. Also, from this season, the German championship was enlarged, too, and the south east was now allowed to send both champion and runners-up to the national finals. The 1926 season saw a further increase, to seven clubs in the championship, and, in 1927, to eight teams. From 1926, six regional competitions existed again, after the addition of the Bergland champion. Those six regional competitions feeding the South Eastern German championship were:

Niederlausitz
Niederschlesien
Oberlausitz
Oberschlesien
Mittelschlesien
Bergland

This arrangement remained in place for 1928 but was reduced to five clubs in 1929 again, but now with home-and-away games. SC Breslau 08 made a second semi-finals appearance for a club from the south east that year, going out to the later champion SpVgg Fürth 6-1. In 1930, six clubs played in the finals again, still with home-and-away games. This system remained in place until the competition was disbanded in 1933.

Aftermath

The South Eastern German championship was replaced with the Gauliga Schlesien

Gauliga Schlesien

The Gauliga Schlesien was the highest football league in the region of Silesia , which consisted of the Prussian provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia from 1933 to 1945...

by the Nazis in 1933. In the era that followed, the clubs from the south east continued to see only limited success in the national finals, Vorwärts-Rasensport Gleiwitz

Vorwärts-Rasensport Gleiwitz

Vorwärts-Rasensport Gleiwitz was a German association football club from the city of Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, today Gliwice, Poland.-History:...

making a semi-finals appearance in 1936, losing to Fortuna Düsseldorf

Fortuna Düsseldorf

' is a German association football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, currently playing in the second tier of German league football, the 2. Fußball-Bundesliga...

3-1 and then being demolished by FC Schalke 04

FC Schalke 04

Fußball-Club Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04, commonly known as simply FC Schalke 04 or Schalke , is a German, association-football club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. Schalke has long been one of the most popular football teams in Germany, even though major...

8-1 in the game for third place.

After the end of the Second World War, Germany suffered further territorial loss

Territorial changes of Germany

The territorial changes of Germany refer to the changes in the borders and territory of Germany from its formation in 1871 to the present. Modern Germany was formed in 1871 when Otto von Bismarck unified most of the German-speaking states into the German Empire...

, and Silesia became almost completely part of Poland. Only a small strip west of the Oder-Neisse line

Oder-Neisse line

The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...

remained part of Germany. The city of Cottbus

Cottbus

Cottbus is a city in Brandenburg, Germany, situated around southeast of Berlin, on the River Spree. As of , its population was .- History :...

, never part of Silesia, but its clubs taking part in the South Eastern German championship nevertheless, and Hoyerswerda

Hoyerswerda

Hoyerswerda is the largest city in the district of Bautzen in the German state of Saxony. It is located in Lusatia, a region where many people speak the Sorbian languages in addition to German.-Geography:...

are two cities who send clubs to the championship and are still part of Germany today. German clubs in Silesia were either dissolved, as in most cases, or become part of the Polish football league system

Polish football league system

The Polish football league system is a series of leagues for club football in Poland.-The men's system:Polish League system was reorganized in 2008/2009 season. The Second league was renamed to First League. Third league, divided into four groups, was renamed to Second league, and divided into only...