East German football league system

:"For the league system of Germany, see German football league system."Source:Cite web
url = http://www.f-archiv.de/
title = East German football leagues
accessdate = 2008-02-16
publisher = Das deutsche Fussball Archiv

*All leagues on the same level run parallel.
*Leagues below the "Bezirksligen" not shown.

League Timeline 1949 to 1991

Source:Cite web
url = http://www.f-archiv.de/
title = East German football leagues
accessdate = 2008-03-08
publisher = Das deutsche Fussball Archiv

Club names and affiliations

The clubs in the East German league system were very similar to clubs in other eastern European communist countries and therefore very different from the rest of Europe. "Free", uncontrolled formation of sports- or football clubs was not possible, the DFV" controlled everything. Players on elite level did not necessarily have a free choice of club either and if they wanted to play in the national team they usually had to join one of the big clubs, a fact after all quite similar to the west [ [http://www.envb.nl/mielke.htm Book review:] , Erich Mielke, die Stasi und das runde Leder (in German), Hanns Leske, Verlag die Werkstatt, ISBN 3895334480] .

Football clubs in the former GDR could be classified in four simple categories, identifiable by their names, these being:

"Dynamo"

* The clubs of the interior ministry with strong connection to the secret police [cite web|url=http://www.bpb.de/publikationen/SWTCU3,4,0,Fu%DFball_in_der_DDR.html|title=Fußball in der DDR - planungsresistent und unregierbar? (in German)|publisher=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Hans Joachim Teichler
date=2008|accessdate=2008-03-16] . Erich Mielke, head of the "Stasi" was the patron of all "Dynamo" clubs and especially of Dynamo Berlin, resulting in very favorable results for those clubs. Especially in the last fifteen years of the "GDR", the "Dynamo" clubs dominated the league completely. The most famous being:
** BFC Dynamo Berlin
** Dynamo Dresden

"Vorwärts"

* The clubs of the ministry of defence, usually called "ASV Vorwärts". The army club Vorwärts Berlin dominated the league in the 1960s, but with the rise in power of the "Stasi" and the decline of the army, the club was forced to leave Berlin for Frankfurt/Oder to make room for "Dynamo Berlin" [cite web|url=http://www.bpb.de/publikationen/SWTCU3,3,0,Fu%DFball_in_der_DDR.html#art3|title=Fußball in der DDR - Fußballbegeisterung und politische Interventionen (in German)|publisher=Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Hans Joachim Teichler|date=2008|accessdate=2008-03-16] . The most famous being:
** Vorwärts Frankfurt/Oder
** Vorwärts Stralsund

"Football Clubs"

* A handful of clubs were established as separate football clubs from December 1965 to January 1966 to improve the level of play and concentrate the best players, those being:
** 1. FC Magdeburg, continued to receive support from the "VEB Schwermaschinenbau Ernst Thälmann"
** FC Hansa Rostock
** Rot-Weiß Erfurt
** FC Carl Zeiss Jena, continued to receive close support from "Carl Zeiss"
** FC Karl Marx Stadt
** 1. FC Lok Leipzig, despite its name, the club was not affiliated with the Deutsche Reichsbahn
** 1. FC Union Berlin
** FC Chemie Halle, despite its name, the club was not affiliated with the chemical industry
*Apart from those eight, the "BFC Dynamo" and "Vorwärts Berlin" also nominally became independent football clubs but in practice they remained under the influence of their ministries. An eleventh club, "SG Dynamo Dresden" was granted the same privileges in regards of player drafting but did not become an autonomous football club.

"BSG"

* Short for the " Betriebssportgemeinschaft", those were the sport clubs sponsored by East German government-owned companies. By far the most numerous, they were the basis of sports in the "GDR". However, they received the lowest priority in the sports system. Generally, athletes were company employees and the sports teams were company sponsored. Due to the different industries' varying ability to create a "profit", the "BSG's" varied greatly in financial wealth and sporting success. "Wismut" and "Chemie" were the two dominant branches in the ranks of the "BSG's". The "BSG's" themselves subdivide in different industries, again easily distinguishable by their names:
** "Aktivist" = Mining industry: Aktivist Brieske-Senftenberg
** "Aufbau" = Building industry: Aufbau dkk Krumhermersdorf
** "Chemie" = Chemical industry: Chemie Leipzig
** "Einheit" = Civil administration: Einheit Pankow
** "Empor" = Trade & Commerce: Empor Neuruppin, Empor Halle
** "Energie" = Energy providers: Energie Cottbus
** "Fortschritt" = Textile industry: Fortschritt Bischofswerda
** "Lokomotive" = State railway (the "Deutsche Reichsbahn"): Lok Stendal, Lokomotive Halberstadt
** "Motor" = Automotive industry: Motor Babelsberg, Motor Karl Marx Stadt
** "Post" = Postal service: Post Neubrandenburg
** "Rotation" = Print industry: Rotation Babelsberg
** "Stahl" = Steel industry: Stahl Brandenburg, Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt
** "Traktor" = Agriculture: Traktor Groß-Lindow
** "Turbine" = Energy providers: Turbine Potsdam, Turbine Markranstädt
** "Wismut" = Mining industry, specifically uranium mining: Wismut Aue, Wismut Plauen
* Some industrial branches were particularly unsuccessful due to low funding, an example is agriculture who did not have a club in the first or second division again after 1978 when "Traktor Groß-Lindow" got relegated.

*Some clubs remained outside those categories, at least by name, belonging to well-known East German companies and carrying their names, like Sachsenring Zwickau or, to some extent, FC Carl Zeiss Jena.

External links

* [http://www.fussballdaten.de/ddr/ The "DDR-Oberliga" at Fussballdaten.de]
* [http://home.arcor.de/uleh/fussball/ddr_ol/index.html "DDR-Oberliga" results & tables]
* [http://home.arcor.de/uleh/fussball/ddr_liga/index.html Results and tables of the "DDR-Liga"]
* [http://www.f-archiv.de/ Das deutsche Fussball Archiv]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesd/ddrhist.html The "DDR-Oberliga" at RSSSF.com]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesd/ddr2hist.html "DDR-Liga" at RSSSF.com]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesd/ddr-names.html Name changes of GDR football teams at RSSSF.com]

References

ources

* "Kicker Almanach" The Football Yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
* [http://www.gfl-journal.de/2-2007/dennis.html Behind the Wall: East German football between state and society] , by Mike Dennis, Professor of Modern German History at the University of Wolverhampton