Gauliga Mittelrhein

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Football league

Gauliga Mittelrhein
Gauliga Köln-Aachen
Gauliga Moselland

Founded	1933
Folded	1945 (12 seasons)
Replaced by	Oberliga West
Country	Nazi Germany
Provinces, Countries and Regions	Rhine Province Luxembourg (from 1941) Eupen-Malmedy (from 1941)
Gau (from 1934)	Gau Köln-Aachen Gau Moselland
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Domestic cup(s)	Tschammerpokal
Last champions	Gauliga Köln-Aachen: KSG VfL 99 Köln/SpVgg Sülz 07 Gauliga Moselland: TuS Neuendorf (1943-44)

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 Gaue Köln-Aachen and Moselland replaced the Prussian province in the Middle Rhine (German: Mittelrhein) region.

From 1941, the Gauliga Mittelrhein was split into two separate leagues, the Gauliga Köln-Aachen and the Gauliga Moselland. From this time, it also included clubs from the occupied Luxembourg and the Belgian region of Eupen-Malmedy.

Overview

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 and remained at this strength until 1939. From 1937, it also included Alemannia Aachen which had previously belonged to the Gauliga Niederrhein.

Due to the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the league was split into two regional groups, a northern division of seven and a southern of six clubs. The two group champions then played a home-and-away final for the Gauliga championship.

In its last season, 1940–41, the league returned to a single-division, ten-team format. At the end of this season, the league was split into two separate Gauligas, divided along the administrative divisions of the two Gaue.

Gauliga Köln-Aachen

The territory of the new Gauliga Köln-Aachen was made up of the area of the Gau Köln-Aachen and the Eupen-Malmedy region, the German-speaking part of Belgium which had been annexed to the Gau after the German victory in 1940. However, no club from this formerly Belgian region played at highest level during the war.

The league started with nine clubs in a single division in 1941 and expanded to ten for the 1942-43 season. In its last completed season, 1943–44, it returned to a strength of nine teams. There is no record of play in the 1944-45 season as war overtook the region, including the conquest of Aachen by the allied forces.

Gauliga Moselland

The territory of the new Gauliga Moselland was made up of the area of the Gau Moselland and Luxembourg, which had been annexed by Germany in 1940 and added to the Gau.

The league started out with two regional divisions of six clubs each with a home-and-away final to determine the Gauliga champion. The western group compromised two clubs from the city of Trier and four Luxembourgian clubs. The league modus remained the same for the 1942-43 season but the number of clubs from Luxembourg increased to five.

In the 1943-44 season, the eastern group comprised five teams while the western had seven clubs. There is no record of a 1944-45 season as allied forces had arrived in the region in late 1944.

Aftermath

With the end of the Nazi era, the Gauligas ceased to exist and the northern part of the region found itself in the British occupation zone while the south became part of the French zone. The annexed regions of Belgium and Luxembourg were taken from Germany again after 1945.

The Oberliga Südwest was introduced as the highest football league in the French occupation zone in 1945, replacing the Gauliga. The territory of the pre-1940 Gau Moselland became part of the new state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

In the British zone, which the former Gau Köln-Aachen was part of, top-level football did not resume straight away, unlike in Southern Germany, and only in 1947 was a new, highest league introduced, the Oberliga West, which covered all of the new state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Founding members of the league

The eleven founding members and their league positions in the 1932-33 season were:

Mülheimer SV 06
VfR 04 Köln
SpVgg Sülz 07, champion Rhein division
Eintracht Trier
Bonner FV
SV Westmark 05 Trier
Kölner CfR
Kölner SC 99
FV 1911 Neuendorf
Fortuna Kottenheim, champion Mittelrhein division
SV Rhenania Köln

Winners and runners-up of the league

The winners and runners-up of the league: