The Gauliga Ostmark, renamed Gauliga Donau-Alpenland in 1941, was the highest

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

league in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

after its

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

in 1938. Shortly after the occupation, the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

reorganised the administrative regions in Austria, and the seven '' Gaue'' ''Carinthia'', ''Niederdonau'', ''Oberdonau'', ''Salzburg'', ''Styria'', ''Vienna'' and '' Tyrol-Vorarlberg'' replaced the country of Austria. From 1941, the northernmost region of the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 191 ...

, ''

Drava Banovina The Drava Banovina or Drava Banate ( Slovene and Serbo-Croatian: ''Dravska banovina''), was a province ( banovina) of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia between 1929 and 1941. This province consisted of most of present-day Slovenia and was named for the Dr ...

'', became part of the ''Gaue'' ''Carinthia'' and ''Styria''.

Overview

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 ...

Ostmark'' was introduced by the

Nazi Sports Office The National Socialist League of the Reich for Physical Exercise (german: Nationalsozialistischer Reichsbund für Leibesübungen, abbreviated NSRL) was the umbrella organization for sports and physical education in Nazi Germany. The NSRL was ...

in 1938, after Austria's annexation, to replace the previously existing national league (German:''Nationalliga'') in the occupied country. The former country of Austria was renamed '' Ostmark'' (English:''Eastern March'') and became part of Germany until 1945. The renaming of Austria to ''Ostmark'' was carried out to eradicate all recognition of the country's former independence from Germany. To take matters further, the FK Austria Wien was also renamed in April 1938, to SC Ostmark Wien. This step however was revoked two months later and the club remained one of the few, if not only, institutions to be permitted to carry the former country's name. Unlike the professional ''Austrian Nationalliga'', the new ''Gauliga'' was supposed to be strictly an amateur league. The new league consisted of six clubs from the old Austrian first division, all based in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and the champion of the second-tier ''Vienna league'' (German:''Wiener Liga''). Additionally, the three champions of the regional leagues of ''Niederdonau'', ''Oberdonau'' and ''Styria'' were also admitted to the new ''Gauliga''. As such, it was only the second time in the history of Austrian football for regional clubs to take part in the premier competition of the country. Previously, this level had only been open to clubs from Vienna but, in 1937, a national league had been formed with non-Vienna clubs in it for the first time. In its first season, the league had ten clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league winner qualified for the German championship while the bottom three teams were relegated. The league was reduced to eight teams for the 1939–40 season, with the bottom club being relegated. In 1940–41, the ''Gauliga Ostmark'' returned to a strength of ten clubs. After the German occupation of Yugoslavia in April 1941, parts of what is now the country of

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

were added to the two southernmost ''Gaue'' in the Ostmark. Additionally, the league was renamed ''Gauliga Donau-Alpenland''. However, no clubs from the annexed part of Yugoslavia did take part in the league. The league was reduced to nine clubs during the 1941–42 season due to the withdrawal of

Sturm Graz Sportklub Sturm Graz is an Austrian association football club, based in Graz, Styria, playing in the Austrian Football Bundesliga. The club was founded in 1909. Its colours are black and white. In its history, Sturm Graz has won the Austrian f ...

. The season after, it played with eleven teams. In 1943–44, it again played with nine teams only. The imminent collapse of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1945 gravely affected the ''Gauligas'' and the league's last season 1944–45, played with ten teams, was not completed. After nine of eighteen rounds, the competition was halted on 11 March 1945.Steirischer Fußballverbande – Verbandsgeschichte – 1945
(in German), accessed: 24 June 2008

National success

The clubs from former Austria had considerable success on national German level, with Rapid Wien in 1941 becoming the only club from outside of the current borders of the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

to claim the German national title. Additionally, Admira in 1939 and First Vienna in 1942 both lost the national final to

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

. Rapids win over Schalke in 1941, in front of 100,000 spectators in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, is still considered one of the most remarkable German finals, as Schalke led 3–0 after 60 minutes to lose 3–4 after full-time. '' Das große Spiel'' (''The big game''), a movie about a fictitious German football team, ''Gloria 03'', directed by Robert Stemmle and released in 1942 uses footage of the 1941 German championship final Rapid Wien versus FC Schalke 04. In the cup competition, Rapid again took out one title, in 1938 while First Vienna won the last competition before the end of Nazi Germany, winning in 1943.

Founding members of the league

Ten clubs from five different leagues formed the ''Gauliga Ostmark'' in 1938, with their league position in the 1937–38 season: *

SK Admira Wien SK may refer to: Businesses and organizations * SK Foods, an American agribusiness company * SK Hand Tools, an American tool manufacturer * Sangguniang Kabataan, Philippines youth councils * SK Group, South Korean conglomerate * Scandinavian Airli ...

''finished 6th Austrian league'' * SC Wacker Wien ''finished 4th Austrian league'' *

SK Rapid Wien Sportklub Rapid Wien (), commonly known as Rapid Vienna, is an Austrian football club playing in the country's capital city of Vienna. Rapid has won the most Austrian championship titles (32), including the first title in the season 1911–12, ...

''Austrian champion'' *

Wiener SC The Wiener Sport-Club, sometimes abbreviated as WSC, was established in 1883 in Vienna, Austria and is one of the country's oldest athletics clubs. Their traditional home is in the Dornbach quarter of the city ( 17th district). History At vari ...

''finished 2nd Austrian league'' *

First Vienna First Vienna FC is an Austrian association football club based in the Döbling district of Vienna. Established on 22 August 1894, it is the country's oldest team and has played a notable role in the history of the game there. It is familiarly k ...

''finished 5th Austrian league'' *

FK Austria Wien Fußballklub Austria Wien AG (; known in English as Austria Vienna, and usually shortened to Austria (German: Österreich) in German-speaking countries, is an Austrian association football club from the capital city of Vienna. It has won the mos ...

''finished 3rd Austrian league'' * Amateure Fiat Wien ''champion Wiener Liga (II)'' * Grazer SC ''champion Steiermark 1. Liga (II)'' * SK Amateure Steyr ''champion Bezirksklasse Oberdonau (II)'' *

Reichsbahn Wacker Wiener Neustadt The ''Deutsche Reichsbahn'', also known as the German National Railway, the German State Railway, German Reich Railway, and the German Imperial Railway, was the German national railway system created after the end of World War I from the regio ...

''champion Niederdonau Liga (II)''

Winners and runners-up of the league

The winners and runners-up of the league:

Placings in the Gauliga Ostmark 1938–45

The complete list of clubs in the league: * The 1944–45 championship was not completed and is not officially recognised by the

Austrian Football Association The Austrian Football Association (german: Österreichischer Fußball-Bund; ÖFB) is the governing body of football in Austria. It organises the football league, Austrian Bundesliga, the Austrian Cup and the Austria national football team, as well ...

; placings are after nine of eighteen rounds. * ''Sturm Graz'' withdrew during the 1941–42 season.

Aftermath

At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Austria was reestablished as an independent country, occupied by the four allied powers. A national football competition was formed again in 1945, the ''Erste Liga'' (English:''First League'') later being renamed ''Staatsliga'' and, from 1974, ''Austrian Bundesliga'', kicking off on 1 September 1945. In the early post-war years, clubs from outside of Vienna were again barred from the top division and only in 1948 did the league become truly national, admitting regional clubs again.RSSSF.com – Tables of the Austrian football leagues – 1948–49
accessed: 23 June 2008 The occupied parts of Yugoslavia became part of the new

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yu ...

and reverted to Slovenia.

References

Sources

* ''Die deutschen Gauligen 1933-45 - Heft 1-3'' Tables of the Gauligas 1933–45, publisher: DSFS * ''Kicker Almanach'', The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine

External links

*
The Gauligas
''Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv''

at RSSSF.com

Article on cross-border movements of football clubs, at ''RSSSF.com''

{{Authority control Sports leagues established in 1938 1938 establishments in Germany Football leagues in Austria Gauliga