Brandenburg Football Championship

The Brandenburg football championship (German: ''Brandenburgische Fußball-Meisterschaft'') was the name of highest association football competition in the Prussian Province of Brandenburg, including Berlin, established in 1898. The competition was organized by various regional football associations between 1898 and 1933. The last incarnation of the competition was the VBB-Oberliga. The competition was disbanded in 1933 with the rise of the Nazis to power.

Overview

German football was, from its beginnings, divided into regional associations, which carried out their own championship, which often pre-dated the national German championship. With the interception of the later in 1903, the former became qualifying tournaments for it but these regional championships still held a high value for the local clubs. These regional championships were:
* Southern German football championship – ''formed in 1898''
* Brandenburg football championship – ''formed in 1898''
* Central German football championship – ''formed in 1902''
* Western German football championship – ''formed in 1903''
* March football championship – ''existed from 1903 to 1911''
* Northern German football championship – ''formed in 1906''
* South Eastern German football championship – ''formed in 1906''
* Baltic football championship – ''formed in 1908''

All this regional championships were suspended with the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933. At the end of the Second World War, some resumed, now in league format. Others completely disappeared, like the Baltic championship, as the territories they were held in were not part of Germany any more. With the South West German football championship, a new regional competition also appeared in 1945. Ultimately, with the formation of the Fußball-Bundesliga in 1963, all this regional championships ceased altogether.

History

Background

The Prussian province of Brandenburg was largely identical to what is now the federal state of Brandenburg, except for the areas east of the Oder-Neisse line, which are now part of Poland. Berlin was separated politically from the province in 1881 and significantly enlarged in size through the Greater Berlin Act of 1920. Clubs from city of Berlin were part of, and indeed, dominated the Brandenburg football championship. The outcome of the First World War and change of Prussia to a Free State had little influence on the competition as, unlike other regions of Germany, Brandenburg did not lose any territory.

Early Berlin-Brandenburg football associations

In the late 1890s, a number of local football associations were formed in the Berlin and Brandenburg region, most of them short lived. In the earliest days of football in the country, Berlin was the center of growth of the sport and some of the champions of these associations held themselves to be "national champions" before the formation of the DFB (Deutscher Fußball Bund, en: German Football Association) and the emergence of a widely recognized German championship in the early 1900s. In 1933, associations throughout the country, including those in Berlin, were disbanded under the Nazi regime and reorganized into 16 regional leagues, or Gauligen, playing for a single national championship. Separate workers' and faith-based competitions active in Berlin were also absorbed into the new leagues.

The ''Verband Deutscher Ballspielvereine'', a Berlin-based association of German football clubs was formed on 11 September 1897.Berliner Fussball Verbände bis 1933
Hirschi's Fussballseiten – Football in Berlin, accessed: 17 April 2009 In May 1902, it was renamed as the ''Verband Berliner Ballspielvereine'' to reflect its geographical alignment.

From 1903 to 1911, the ''Märkischer Fußball-Bund'', named after the Mittelmark, existed in parallel with the ''Verband Berliner Ballspielvereine'' and both sent their champions to the German football championship. In April 1911, the two associations merged to form the ''Verband Brandenburgischer Ballspielvereine''.

In 1933, after the rise of the Nazis to power, the ''Verband Brandenburgischer Ballspielvereine'' was disbanded, like all other regional football associations in Germany.

Competition

1898–1911

The Brandenburg football championship was first played in 1898, when eight clubs competed in a league format for it. The number of games played by each team varied greatly but the top four clubs each played nine season games with the top three ending up on equal points. To determine the champion, a two leg decider was played between Britannia Berlin and BFC Preussen with the former winning both games and earning its first league title. In its second edition, only six clubs participated, all from the city of Berlin and this time each club played an equal number of games. Because of the top two teams finishing on equal points, a final had to be played once more, this time BFC Preussen coming out the winner.

Expanded to nine clubs for 1900, the league champion won the Brandenburg title outright at this edition, BFC Preussen winning all of its 16 games. The following season, only seven clubs took part in the competition but for 1902 it was expanded to twelve teams in two divisions of six, with the two divisional winners playing out the Brandenburg champions. The finals were held in a two leg format but because each team won one game, a third match had to be held to decide the winner. For 1903, the league returned to a single division format, now with eight clubs. Additionally, the league received some local competition with the ''March football championship'' being introduced, organised by the rival ''Märkischer Fußball-Bund''. Also, the German football championship was held for the first time, with the Brandenburg champion, Britannia Berlin, losing 1–3 against VfB Leipzig