Oberliga Nord (1947–1963)

The Oberliga Nord (English: Premier league North) was the highest level of the German football league system in the north of Germany from 1947 until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.

Oberliga Nord
Map of Germany:Position of the Oberliga Nord highlighted
Founded1947
Folded1963 (16 seasons)
Replaced byBundesliga
Country West Germany
State
Level on pyramidLevel 1
Relegation to
Last championsHamburger SV
(1962–63)

Overview

The league was created in 1947 as the highest level of football in the north of Germany, then part of the British occupation zone. It replaced the various Gauligas, which had existed until 1945 in the region:

It was, together with the Oberliga West, the last of the five Oberligas to be formed, the other four being:

The league was formed from twelve clubs in 1947, four from Hamburg, three from Lower Saxony (South), three from Lower Saxony (North, incorporating Bremen at the time) and two from Schleswig-Holstein.

With the reintroduction of the German championship in 1948, the winners and (in most cases) runners-up of the Oberliga Nord went on to the finals tournament with the other Oberliga champions. In 1950, when 16 clubs were admitted, VfL Osnabrück competed as well, having finished 3rd in the North. In 1954, runners-up FC St.Pauli did not qualify because the number of participants was reduced to six clubs. In the period from 1948 to 1963, only two teams from the north of Germany won the national title, Hannover 96 (1954) and Hamburger SV (1960).

The league was completely dominated by Hamburger SV, who won it 15 out of 16 times, failing in 1954 only by finishing eleventh (the position influenced to some extent by a deduction of four points).

Unlike the other Oberligas, the Oberliga Nord never formed a 2nd Oberliga as the second tier, the five local Amateurligas remained at this level instead.

Reforming of the Oberliga Nord

In 1974, with the disbanding of the Regionalliga Nord, the Oberliga Nord was re-created, but now as the third tier of German football. Geographically, it covered the same region as the old Oberliga Nord.

Founding members of the Oberliga Nord

Disbanding of the Oberliga

With the introduction of the new Bundesliga, the Oberligas were disbanded. The top three teams of the Oberliga Nord were admitted to the Bundesliga, the other thirteen clubs went to the Regionalliga Nord, one of the five new second divisions.

Admitted to Bundesliga:

The following teams from the Oberliga went to the new Regionalliga:

Qualifying for the Bundesliga

The qualifying system for the new league was fairly complex. The league placings of the clubs playing in the Oberligen for the last ten seasons were taken into consideration, whereby results from 1952 to 1955 counted once, results from 1955 to 1959 counted double and results from 1959 to 1963 triple. A first-place finish was awarded 16 points, a sixteenth place one point. Appearances in the German championship or DFB-Pokal finals were also rewarded with points. The five Oberliga champions of the 1962–63 season were granted direct access to the Bundesliga. All up, 46 clubs applied for the 16 available Bundesliga slots.

Following this system, by 11 January 1963, the DFB announced nine fixed clubs for the new league and reduced the clubs eligible for the remaining seven places to 20. Clubs within the same Oberliga that were separated by less than 50 points were considered on equal rank and the 1962-63 placing was used to determine the qualified team.[1]

Eight clubs applied for Bundesliga membership, of those Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen qualified early (11 January 1963). The third place went to Eintracht Braunschweig due to their third-place finish in 1962–63 even though their overall points put them in seventh spot in the ranking, but within 50 points of third-placed VfL Osnabrück. Osnabrück finished seventh in 1962–63.[2]

Points table:

Rank Club Points 1952 to 1963 Place in 1962–63
1 Hamburger SV 1 518 1
2 Werder Bremen 1 396 2
3 VfL Osnabrück 2 313 7
4 Hannover 96 2 309 9
5 FC St. Pauli 2 303 6
6 Holstein Kiel 2 294 5
7 Eintracht Braunschweig 2 276 3
8 Arminia Hannover 3 103 10
  • Source: DSFS Liga-Chronik (in German), page: B 11, accessed: 4 November 2008
  • Bold Denotes club qualified for the new Bundesliga.
  • 1 Denotes club was one of the nine selected on 11 January 1963.
  • 2 Denotes club was one of the 20 taken into final selection.
  • 3 Denotes club was one of the 15 applicants which were removed from final selection.
  • 4 Denotes club withdrew Bundesliga application.

Honours

The winners and runners-up of the Oberliga Nord:[3]

Season Winner Runner-Up
1947–48 Hamburger SV FC St. Pauli
1948–49 Hamburger SV FC St. Pauli
1949–50 Hamburger SV FC St. Pauli
1950–51 Hamburger SV FC St. Pauli
1951–52 Hamburger SV VfL Osnabrück
1952–53 Hamburger SV Holstein Kiel
1953–54 Hannover 96 FC St. Pauli
1954–55 Hamburger SV TuS Bremerhaven 93
1955–56 Hamburger SV Hannover 96
1956–57 Hamburger SV Holstein Kiel
1957–58 Hamburger SV Eintracht Braunschweig
1958–59 Hamburger SV Werder Bremen
1959–60 Hamburger SV Werder Bremen
1960–61 Hamburger SV Werder Bremen
1961–62 Hamburger SV Werder Bremen
1962–63 Hamburger SV Werder Bremen
  • Bold denotes team went on to win German Championship.

Placings & all-time table of the Oberliga Nord

The final placings and all-time table of the Oberliga Nord:[3]

Club 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 S G GF GA Points
Hamburger SV 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 16 539 1609 758 784
SV Werder Bremen 4 8 4 6 7 3 5 3 6 5 7 2 2 2 2 2 16 488 1207 878 586
FC St. Pauli 2 2 2 2 3 9 2 7 13 4 9 7 4 4 4 6 16 483 941 723 566
VfL Osnabrück 5 3 3 4 2 4 12 9 10 6 4 4 3 3 7 7 16 473 927 743 532
Hannover 96 11 7 11 11 7 1 5 2 3 10 6 6 5 13 9 15 456 824 777 476
Eintracht Braunschweig 3 4 5 10 14 4 6 11 7 2 5 8 9 6 3 15 441 869 798 474
Holstein Kiel 10 11 3 5 2 9 10 4 2 8 10 9 7 5 5 15 451 850 802 470
TuS Bremerhaven 93 12 10 8 8 8 7 2 7 9 5 9 5 14 14 13 15 452 758 845 443
FC Altona 93 15 6 3 4 9 11 3 8 11 6 11 15 12 362 654 708 353
Concordia Hamburg 8 9 6 12 12 15 12 6 12 12 12 12 14 13 376 640 752 329
Arminia Hannover 6 10 12 13 9 12 6 12 3 15 10 11 316 545 618 287
SC Göttingen 05 11 13 9 6 5 10 13 8 10 16 10 294 515 594 265
VfR Neumünster 5 8 12 3 10 11 8 4 8 240 351 396 239
Eimsbütteler TV 6 8 5 4 10 8 8 16 8 234 419 454 225
Bremer SV 9 5 14 7 10 13 13 15 15 9 256 436 552 216
VfB Lübeck 7 7 15 11 15 15 14 15 16 9 254 346 509 202
VfB Oldenburg 9 16 11 15 10 10 12 7 212 312 428 177
VfV Hildesheim 13 7 8 3 8 5 150 246 248 153
ASV Bergedorf 85 11 13 13 9 11 5 150 215 287 129
VfL Wolfsburg 14 14 14 11 16 5 150 228 299 117
Eintracht Nordhorn 12 13 13 15 16 5 150 196 333 107
Eintracht Osnabrück 14 13 16 16 4 122 193 299 80
Harburger TB 16 14 14 16 4 120 162 306 74
1. FC Phönix Lübeck 14 14 15 3 90 113 192 67
SC Victoria Hamburg 12 15 16 3 82 100 191 51
Heider SV 16 16 2 60 66 118 37
Lüneburger SK 16 1 30 40 119 11
Itzehoer SV 17 1 32 42 118 9

Source:"All-time table Oberliga Nord". Clas Glenning. Archived from the original on 2009-07-31. Retrieved 2008-01-09.

  • Table includes results from the finals rounds of the German championship.

See also

References
  1. DSFS Ligachronik: Qualifikation zur Bundesliga 1963 (in German), page: B 11 - 12, publisher: Deutscher Sportclub für Fussballstatistik - DSFS, accessed: 3 November 2008
  2. "Die Oberliga Nord 1962/63 - Abschlusstabelle" (in German). fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 3 November 2008.
  3. Germany - Oberliga Nord 1945-63 rsssf.org, accessed: 16 December 2015

Sources
  • Kicker Almanach, (in German) The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
  • Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945-2005 (in German) History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables, publisher: DSFS, published: 2006
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