DDR-Oberliga

The DDR-Oberliga (English: East German Premier League or GDR Premier League) was the top-level association football league in East Germany.

DDR Oberliga

Organising body	Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR (DFV)
Founded	1948
Folded	1991
Replaced by	Bundesliga
Country	East Germany
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Relegation to	DDR Liga Staffel A DDR Liga Staffel B
Domestic cup(s)	FDGB-Pokal
International cup(s)	European Cup UEFA Cup
Last champions	Hansa Rostock (1990–91)
Most championships	BFC Dynamo (10 titles)

Overview

 

The match between BFC Dynamo and Dynamo Dresden on 6 April 1988.

Following World War II, separate sports competitions emerged in the occupied eastern and western halves of Germany, replacing the Gauligas of the Nazi era.

In East Germany, a top-flight football competition, the highest league in the East German football league system, was established in 1949 as the DS-Oberliga (Deutscher Sportausschuss Oberliga, German Sports Association Upper League). Beginning in 1958, it carried the name DDR-Oberliga and was part of the league structure within the DFV (Deutscher Fussball-Verband der DDR, German Football Association of the GDR).

In its inaugural season in 1949/50, the DDR-Oberliga was made up of 14 teams with two relegation spots.^[1] Over the course of the next four seasons, the number of teams in the division varied and included anywhere from 17 to 19 sides with three or four relegation spots.^[2][3][4][5] Beginning with the 1954/55 season up until merger of the East and West German football associations in 1991/92 the league was made up of 14 teams with 2 relegation spots.^[6]

Initially, the DDR-Oberliga operated on an autumn-spring schedule, as was traditional in Germany. From 1956 to 1960, a Soviet-style spring-autumn (calendar year) schedule was in place.^{[citation needed]} This required a transition round in 1955 and, although no champion was formally declared that season, SC Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt finished atop the division.^[7] 1961/62 saw the return of an autumn-spring season and an extended schedule (39 matches vs. 26 matches) was played with each club meeting the others a total of three times – once at home, once away, and once at a neutral venue.^[8]

After German reunification, the last regular DDR-Oberliga season was played in 1990/91 under the designation NOFV-Oberliga (Nordostdeutsche Fußballverband Oberliga or Northeast German Football Federation Premier League). The following year, the East German league structure was merged into the West German system under the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund) and the top two NOFV-Oberliga clubs – F.C. Hansa Rostock and Dynamo Dresden – joined the first division Bundesliga.

For the duration of the league's existence, the league below it was the DDR-Liga.

Disbanding of the Oberliga

The Oberliga was disbanded after the 1990-91 season and its clubs were integrated in the German football league system. The fourteen Oberliga clubs went to the following leagues, spread over three tiers:

To the Fussball-Bundesliga (Tier I):

• 1. FC Dynamo Dresden
• F.C. Hansa Rostock

To the 2. Bundesliga Nord (Tier II):

• BSV Stahl Brandenburg

To the 2. Bundesliga Süd (Tier II):

• 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig
• Chemnitzer FC
• FC Carl Zeiss Jena
• FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt
• Hallescher FC

To the NOFV-Oberliga Nord (Tier III):

• FC Berlin
• Eisenhüttenstädter FC Stahl
• FC Vorwärts Frankfurt/Oder

To the NOFV-Oberliga Mitte (Tier III):

• 1. FC Magdeburg
• FC Energie Cottbus

To the NOFV-Oberliga Süd (Tier III):

• FC Sachsen Leipzig

The Oberliga reformed as the Regionalliga Nordost

In 1994, a new third tier division was established in the area that formerly made up East Germany. The Regionalliga Nordost was made up of most of the big names of the DDR-era alongside clubs from West Berlin. The only clubs from the final season of the old DDR-Oberliga not to appear here were F.C. Hansa Rostock, which was competing at the Bundesliga level, and Hallescher FC, which had fallen on hard times.

The league was disbanded again in 2000 and its member clubs were spread between the two remaining Regionalligas (III) and the NOFV-Oberligas (IV), effectively ending the history of the all-East German leagues.

The Regionalliga Nordost returned in 2012/13 as one of five fourth-tier regional leagues. The new league will cover the area of the former GDR and Berlin and the champions of this new division will qualify for a play-off against the winner of another Regionalliga or against the second-placed team in the Regionalliga Südwest to determine promotion to the 3. Liga.

DDR-Oberliga champions

Main article: List of East German football champions

BFC Dynamo was the league record holder with 10 DDR-Oberliga titles to its credit, having won all of these titles in successive seasons.^[9]

Season Club 1948 SG Planitz 1949 ZSG Union Halle 1949–50 ZSG Horch Zwickau 1950–51 BSG Chemie Leipzig 1951–52 BSG Turbine Halle 1952–53 SG Dynamo Dresden 1953–54 BSG Turbine Erfurt 1954–55 BSG Turbine Erfurt 1955 SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt^[A] 1956 SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt 1957 SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt 1958 ASK Vorwärts Berlin 1959 SC Wismut Karl Marx Stadt 1960 ASK Vorwärts Berlin 1961–62 ASK Vorwärts Berlin

Season Club 1962–63 SC Motor Jena 1963–64 BSG Chemie Leipzig 1964–65 ASK Vorwärts Berlin 1965–66 FC Vorwärts Berlin 1966–67 FC Karl-Marx-Stadt 1967–68 FC Carl Zeiss Jena 1968–69 FC Vorwärts Berlin 1969–70 FC Carl Zeiss Jena 1970–71 SG Dynamo Dresden 1971–72 1. FC Magdeburg 1972–73 SG Dynamo Dresden 1973–74 1. FC Magdeburg 1974–75 1. FC Magdeburg 1975–76 SG Dynamo Dresden 1976–77 SG Dynamo Dresden

Season Club 1977–78 SG Dynamo Dresden 1978–79 BFC Dynamo 1979–80 BFC Dynamo 1980–81 BFC Dynamo 1981–82 BFC Dynamo 1982–83 BFC Dynamo 1983–84 BFC Dynamo 1984–85 BFC Dynamo 1985–86 BFC Dynamo 1986–87 BFC Dynamo 1987–88 BFC Dynamo 1988–89 SG Dynamo Dresden 1989–90 SG Dynamo Dresden 1990–91 F.C. Hansa Rostock DDR-Oberliga was dissolved due to German reunification.

Notes

1. Transition season, not recognised as an official championship.

Placings in the DDR-Oberliga 1975–1991

Clubs are named by the last names they carried before the German reunification, which are not necessarily their current ones.

Club	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981	1982	1983	1984	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991
F.C. Hansa Rostock	13	—	14	—	14	—	10	8	8	9	10	13	—	9	4	6	1
SG Dynamo Dresden	3	1	1	1	2	2	4	2	7	2	2	6	2	3	1	1	2
Berliner FC Dynamo	4	2	4	3	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	4	11
1. FC Magdeburg	1	3	2	2	4	4	3	6	6	5	5	4	5	7	6	3	10
FC Carl Zeiss Jena	2	5	3	5	3	3	2	5	3	10	7	3	6	6	8	5	6
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig	8	4	5	4	5	6	6	3	4	3	3	2	3	2	5	8	7
FC Karl-Marx-Stadt	10	11	9	7	8	9	9	9	9	6	9	8	8	8	3	2	5
FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt	9	7	6	9	7	12	7	7	5	7	6	10	7	12	12	11	3
FC Vorwärts Frankfurt	5	12	12	13	—	5	5	4	2	4	8	9	10	13	—	—	14
BSG Wismut Aue	12	6	10	11	11	10	12	10	10	8	4	11	4	10	7	13	—
Hallescher FC Chemie	11	8	7	6	6	7	8	11	11	14	—	—	—	5	9	9	4
BSG Sachsenring Zwickau	7	9	8	10	12	8	11	12	14	—	—	14	—	—	13	—	—
1. FC Union Berlin	—	—	11	8	10	13	—	—	12	13	—	7	11	11	14	—	—
BSG Stahl Riesa	6	10	13	—	9	11	13	—	—	11	12	12	12	14	—	—	—
BSG Stahl Brandenburg	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	11	5	9	4	11	10	8
BSG Energie Cottbus	—	14	—	—	—	—	—	13	—	—	—	—	13	—	10	7	13
BSG Chemie Leipzig	—	13	—	—	—	14	—	—	—	12	13	—	—	—	—	—^1	12
BSG Chemie Böhlen	—	—	—	12	13	—	14	—	13	—		—	—	—	—	—^1
BSG Fortschritt Bischofswerda	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	14	—	—	14	—
BSG Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	12	9
BSG Motor Suhl	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	14	—	—	—	—	—	—
BSG Chemie Buna Schkopau^2	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	14	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
BSG Wismut Gera	—	—	—	14	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
ASG Vorwärts Stralsund	14	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Source: "DDR-Oberliga". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 15 March 2008.

• ¹ BSG Chemie Leipzig (since May 1990 named FC Grün-Weiß Leipzig) and BSG Chemie Böhlen merged in August 1990, to form FC Sachsen Leipzig.
• ² The club would continue as SV Merseburg 99 (de) following German reunification. SV Merseburg 99 merged with VfB IMO Merseburg in 2019 to form 1. FC Merseburg (de).

See also

• Regionalliga Nordost
• NOFV-Oberliga
• NOFV-Oberliga Süd
• NOFV-Oberliga Mitte
• NOFV-Oberliga Nord

References

1. Alexander Mastrogiannopoulos (16 October 2005). "East Germany 1949/50". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
2. Jan Schoenmakers (16 October 2005). "East Germany 1946-1990". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
3. Jan Schoenmakers (16 October 2005). "East Germany 1946-1990". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
4. Jan Schoenmakers (16 October 2005). "East Germany 1946-1990". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
5. Jan Schoenmakers (16 October 2005). "East Germany 1946-1990". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
6. Jan Schoenmakers (16 October 2005). "East Germany 1946-1990". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
7. Alexander Mastrogiannopoulos (16 October 2005). "East Germany 1955". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
8. Alexander Mastrogiannopoulos (16 October 2005). "East Germany 1955". rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
9. "DDR Oberliga". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 4 March 2008.

External links

• The DDR-Oberliga at Fussballdaten.de
• Overall table of the DDR-Oberliga
• DDR-Oberliga results & tables
• Das deutsche Fussball Archiv
• The DDR-Oberliga at RSSSF.com
• Fußball in der DDR