 | |
| Founded | 1933 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 1945 |
| Replaced by | DDR-Oberliga |
| Country |  Nazi Germany |
| State |  Saxony |
| Gau (from 1934) | Gau Saxony |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Tschammerpokal |
| Last champions | Dresdner SC (1943-44) |
The Gauliga Saxony was the highest football league in the German state of Saxony (German:Sachsen) from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau Saxony replaced the state Saxony.
The league was introduced by the Nazi Sports Office in 1933, after the Nazi takeover of power in Germany. It replaced the Bezirksligas and Oberligas as the highest level of play in German football competitions.
In its first season, the league had eleven clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league champion then qualified for the German championship. The bottom three teams were relegated. The season after, the league was reduced to ten teams. It operated on the same modus until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.
Due to the effects of the war, the 1939–40 season was played in two regional groups of six teams each with a home-and-away final between the two group winners.
During the war years, the Dresdner SC became a dominating force in German football, with two championships, in 1943 and 1944, a lost final in 1940 and two cup wins in 1940 and 1941. The VfB Leipzig was the other team from the league with a national title, winning the German Cup in 1936. Those successes made the Gauliga Sachsen one of the strongest competitions in the country.
In the 1940–41 season, the Gauliga Sachsen returned to a single division format, now with twelve clubs. This number was reduced to ten for the next season and remained at this strength until 1944.
The imminent collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945 gravely affected all Gauligas and football in the region was split into seven regional groups. However, none of them played more than a few games before the arrival of the Red Army, and the end of the war terminated all competitions.
With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist and the region found itself in the Soviet occupation zone. The DDR-Oberliga was formed in the following years as the highest level of play in the new country of East Germany and the region became part of the East German football league system.
Virtually all football clubs in the region were dissolved and replaced with clubs controlled by the new communist government. Of those, some readopted the pre-1945 names after the German reunification in 1990.
The eleven founding members and their league placing in 1932-33 were: [1]
The winners and runners-up of the league: [1]
| Season | Winner | Runner-Up |
|---|---|---|
| 1933–34 | Dresdner SC | VfB Leipzig |
| 1934–35 | PSV Chemnitz | Dresdner SC |
| 1935–36 | PSV Chemnitz | Dresdner SC |
| 1936–37 | BC 01 Hartha | PSV Chemnitz |
| 1937–38 | BC 01 Hartha | SV Fortuna Leipzig |
| 1938–39 | Dresdner SC | VfB Leipzig |
| 1939–40 | Dresdner SC | Planitzer SC |
| 1940–41 | Dresdner SC | Planitzer SC |
| 1941–42 | Planitzer SC | Dresdner SC |
| 1942–43 | Dresdner SC | Planitzer SC |
| 1943–44 | Dresdner SC | SG Zwickau |
The complete list of all clubs participating in the league: [1]
| Club | 1934 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dresdner SC | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| VfB Leipzig | 2 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 10 |
| PSV Chemnitz | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 9 | |
| Guths Muts Dresden | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 10 | |||
| Wacker Leipzig | 5 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 11 | ||||||
| VfB Glauchau | 6 | 10 | 4 | 12 | |||||||
| SuBC Plauen | 7 | 9 | |||||||||
| SC Planitz | 8 | 7 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| Chemnitzer BC | 9 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 4 | |||||
| VFC Plauen | 10 | ||||||||||
| SpVgg Falkenstein | 11 | ||||||||||
| SV Fortuna Leipzig | 3 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 9 | |
| Sportfreunde Dresden | 5 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 10 | ||||||
| BC Hartha | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 3 | 3 | |||
| Dresdensia Dresden | 10 | ||||||||||
| Tura Leipzig | 6 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 8 | ||||
| Riesaer SV 03 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 6 | ||||||
| SpVgg Leipzig | 9 | ||||||||||
| SV Grüna | 10 | ||||||||||
| Concordia Plauen | 9 | 6 | |||||||||
| SC Döbeln | 8 | 8 | 5 | ||||||||
| Sportlust Zittau | 10 | ||||||||||
| SG Zwickau | 2 |
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 in 1900. The origins of the club go back still further to the predecessor side Dresden English Football Club formed in 1874 by expatriate Englishmen as Germany's first football club and possibly the earliest in continental Europe: Dresdener SC was organized by one-time German members of the EFC.
The Oberliga Nord was the highest level of the German football league system in the north of Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
The Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt is the sixth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the fifth tier of the league system, until the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 the fourth tier.
The Gauliga Baden was the highest football league in the German state of Baden from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau Baden replaced the state Baden.
The Gauliga Württemberg was the highest football league in the German state of Württemberg and the Prussian province of Hohenzollern from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau Württemberg-Hohenzollern replaced the Prussian province and state of Württemberg.
The Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen was the highest football league in the German state of Hesse, the Bavarian province of Palatinate, the Saarland and some parts of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1933 to 1941. From 1941, it also included parts of the occupied French region of Lorraine. Additionally, the league was from then on divided in the Gauligas Hessen-Nassau and Westmark.
The Gauliga Hessen was the highest football league in the German state of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1933 to 1945. From 1941, it was renamed Gauliga Kurhessen. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GauElectoral Hesse replaced the Prussian province and the Peoples State.
The Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg was the highest football league in the provinces of Brandenburg and Berlin in the German state of Prussia from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GaueBrandenburg and Berlin replaced the Prussian provinces.
The Gauliga Ostpreußen was the highest football league in the Prussian province of East Prussia and the Free City of Danzig from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GauEast Prussia the Prussian province. Danzig however did not become part of this Gau, being integrated in the Gau Danzig-West Prussia in 1939 instead.
The Gauliga Danzig-Westpreußen was the highest football league in the former Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, a Nazi administrative unit established partly from German and partly from annexed territory.
The Gauliga Westphalia was the highest football league in the Prussian province of Westphalia and the small Free State of Lippe from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GaueWestphalia-North and Westphalia-South replaced the Prussian province and the Free State.
The Gauliga Pommern was the highest football league in the Prussian province of Pomerania (German:Pommern) from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GauPomerania replaced the province of Pomerania.
The Gauliga Mitte was the highest football league in the Prussian province of Saxony and the German states of Thuringia and Anhalt from 1933 to 1945, all located in the center (German:Mitte) of Germany. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GaueThuringia, Magdeburg-Anhalt and Halle-Merseburg replaced the states and Prussian province.
The Gauliga Niederrhein was the highest football league in the northern part of the Prussian Rhine Province from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GaueEssen and Düsseldorf replaced the Prussian province in the Lower Rhein region.
The Gauliga Mittelrhein was the highest football league in the central and southern part of the Prussian Rhine Province from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GaueKöln-Aachen and Moselland replaced the Prussian province in the Middle Rhine region.
The Gauliga Niedersachsen was the highest football league in the Prussian Province of Hanover and the German states of Bremen, Brunswick, Schaumburg-Lippe and Oldenburg from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GaueSüdhannover-Braunschweig, Ost-Hannover and Weser-Ems de facto replaced the Prussian province and the German states in the region of Lower Saxony (German:Niedersachsen), although de jure the old states continued to exist.
The Gauliga Nordmark was the highest football league in the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein and the German states of Hamburg, Lübeck, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Strelitz and parts of Oldenburg from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the GaueHamburg, Mecklenburg and Schleswig-Holstein replaced the Prussian province and the German states in this northern region of Germany.
The Gauliga Schlesien was the highest football league in the region of Silesia (German:Schlesien), which consisted of the Prussian provinces of Lower Silesia and Upper Silesia from 1933 to 1945. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau Silesia, later subdivided into Gau Upper Silesia and Gau Lower Silesia, replaced the Prussian provinces.
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. The competition was disbanded in 1933 with the rise of the Nazis to power.
The 1939–40 Gauliga was the seventh season of the Gauliga, the first tier of the football league system in Germany from 1933 to 1945. It was the first season held during the Second World War.