Bezirksliga Bayern

The Bezirksliga Bayern was the highest association football league in the German state of Bavaria from 1923 to 1933. The league was disbanded with the rise of the Nazis to power in 1933.

Bezirksliga Bayern
Map of Germany in 1925
Founded1923
Folded1933
Replaced byGauliga Bayern
Country Germany
State Bavaria
Level on pyramidLevel 1
Last championsNorth: 1. FC Nürnberg South: FC Bayern Munich
(1932–33)

Overview

The league was formed in 1923, after a league reform which was decided upon in Darmstadt, Hesse.[1]

Until the introduction of the Bezirksliga, the Kreisliga Südbayern and Kreisliga Nordbayern were the highest leagues in the state.[2]

The league started out with eight clubs from all over the state of Bavaria, but without any teams from the Palatinate region (German:Pfalz), then politically a part of Bavaria but not geographically connected to the rest of the state. The eight clubs played each other in a home-and-away round with the two top teams advancing to the Southern German championship, which in turn was a qualification tournament for the German championship.

In its second season, the league started to incooperate clubs from the city of Ulm, Württemberg, which lies right across the border from Bavaria. Otherwise, the modus of the league remained unchanged but only the league champion qualified for the Southern German finals in this season.

For the 1926–27 season, the league was expanded to ten teams. The top team was again qualified for the finals. Additionally, the SpVgg Fürth as Southern German cup winner also qualified for this round. The runners-up of the Bezirksligas in the south also played a championship round to determine a third team from the region to go to the German finals.

After this season, the league was split into a northern and a southern group, the north having nine and the south seven teams. The winner of each division would advance to the Southern German finals while the two runners-up again played in a separate round like in the previous season.

The 1928–29 season saw no change in modus but both leagues now operated on a strength of eight clubs. The qualification system for the finals also remained unchanged. This system remained in place until 1931.

For the 1931–32 season, both divisions were expanded to ten teams. The top-two teams from each league then advanced to the Southern German finals, which were now staged in two regional groups with a finals game between the two group winners at the end. The same system applied for the final season of the league in 1932–33.

With the rise of the Nazis to power, the Gauligas were introduced as the highest football leagues in Germany. In Bavaria, the Gauliga Bayern replaced the Bezirksliga Bayern as the highest level of play. The twelve best teams from Bavaria qualified for this new, statewide league.

National success

The clubs from the Bezirksliga Bayern were among the most successful in Germany in this era, specifically the 1. FC Nürnberg.

Founding members of the league

The league was formed from eight clubs from Bavaria:

Winners and runners-up of the Bezirksliga Bayern
Season Winner Runner-Up
1923–24 1. FC Nürnberg SpVgg Fürth
1924–25 1. FC Nürnberg SpVgg Fürth
1925–26 FC Bayern Munich 1. FC Nürnberg
1926–27 1. FC Nürnberg TSV 1860 Munich
Season North South
1927–28 SpVgg Fürth FC Bayern Munich
1928–29 1. FC Nürnberg FC Bayern Munich
1929–30 SpVgg Fürth FC Bayern Munich
1930–31 SpVgg Fürth FC Bayern Munich
1931–32 1. FC Nürnberg FC Bayern Munich
1932–33 1. FC Nürnberg FC Bayern Munich

Placings in the Bezirksliga Bayern 1923–33

Clubs from the northern division
Club 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933
1. FC Nürnberg 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 2 1 1
SpVgg Fürth 2 2 3 4 1 2 1 1 2 2
FC Schweinfurt 05 4 3
1. FC Bayreuth 9 6 7 6 8 7 4
ASV Nürnberg 4 6 4 6 5 3 3 6 3 5
VfR Fürth 7 7 7 3 4 7 3 5 6
FV Würzburg 04 4 5 5 5 8 7
Germania Nürnberg 8
Kickers Würzburg 7 6 9
SpVgg Erlangen 10
SpVgg Weiden 9
Bayern Hof 7 6 4 4 10
SpVgg Hof 8
Franken Nürnberg 8
FSV Nürnberg 8
FC Fürth 8 9

Source:"Bezirksliga Bayern". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 2008-07-23.

  • The FV Nürnberg joined the ASV Nürnberg in 1925.

Clubs from the southern division
Club 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933
FC Bayern Munich 3 4 1 5 1 1 1 1 1 1
TSV 1860 Munich 5 5 5 2 2 3 3 2 2 2
FV Ulm 8 3
Wacker München 6 3 6 3 3 4 4 5 5 4
SSV Ulm 6 5
DSV München 5 6 6 8 7 6
TSV Schwaben Augsburg 8 8 10 6 2 5 3 8 7
Teutonia München 8 7 7 6 3 8
SpVgg Landshut 9
Jahn Regensburg 4 5 2 4 4 10
VfB Ingolstadt-Ringsee 7 9
FC Straubing 10
Schwaben Ulm 7 7 8

Source:"Bezirksliga Bayern". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 2008-07-23.

References
  1. History of the Offenburger Fußballverein Archived March 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine (in German) Page 5, accessed: 23 July 2008
  2. Die Geschichte des TSV 1860 (in German) History of 1860 Munich, accessed: 23 July 2008

Sources
  • Fussball-Jahrbuch Deutschland (in German) (8 vol.), Tables and results of the German tier-one leagues 1919–33, publisher: DSFS
  • Kicker Almanach, (in German) The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
  • Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897–1988 (in German) History of Southern German football in tables, publisher & author: Ludolf Hyll
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