DDR-Liga

DDR Liga
Founded	1950
Folded	1991
Replaced by	2nd Bundesliga
Country	East Germany
Level on pyramid	Level 2
Promotion to	DDR-Oberliga
Relegation to	Bezirksliga (15 regional leagues)
Last champions	1. FC Union Berlin; FSV Zwickau ; (1990-91)

The DDR-Liga' (English: GDR League or East German League) was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the second level of football competition in the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic, commonly East Germany), being roughly equivalent to the 2. Bundesliga in West Germany.

Overview[]

1950-1955[]

The league was established with two divisions of ten teams each in 1950 as the level of play below the DDR-Oberliga, and as such was the second tier of the East German football league system. It remained the second tier in various configurations throughout its existence until it was disbanded in 1991.

The champion of each division was directly promoted to the Oberliga. While not having geographical "tags" attached to the division, Staffel 1 was originally equivalent to a Northern Division while Staffel 2 was the Southern Division. The system was not static however, clubs were often moved between groups to balance out league numbers, and sometimes also for political reasons. In the same way, clubs were also moved between cities out of a variety of reasons.

In its second season, the divisions were expanded to twelve teams each, the year after to thirteen and in 1953 to fourteen.

The year 1954 saw the creation of a third group, Staffel 3, making geographical categorizing more difficult, but essentially One was north, Two was south and Three was central.

1955-1971[]

The league system changed completely in 1955. East Germany followed the example of the Soviet Union and switched to a calendar year system, resulting in a shortened autumn competition for 1955 only with a single division, fourteen-team format. From the 1956 season the league continued to operate as a single division format with the top two teams gaining promotion.

After the 1960 season, the league reverted to the traditional system of playing from autumn to spring. This meant that the 1961-62 season, as a transition season, went through three rounds and each of the fourteen clubs played 39 games.

The year after, the league returned to two divisions, North and South, still with fourteen clubs each and the winners gaining promotion.

In 1963, the two divisions were expanded to sixteen clubs each.

1971-1984[]

After a lengthy period without changes to the system, the DDR-Ligas were revamped in 1971 when their number was increased to five with eleven teams in the C and D group and twelve teams in the other three. The year after, all five divisions had twelve clubs. The new system meant that not all league winners could be directly promoted. Instead, the five champions played a promotion round with the top two teams gaining entry to the Oberliga.

To a large extent, the five new divisions represented the pre-1950 states of East Germany, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia, which were all re-formed with the German reunification in 1990.

Until 1976, reserve teams of Oberliga clubs were permitted in the DDR-Liga. They were then banned from entering the second tier in order to increase the appeal of the leagues as attendance for matches involving reserve teams in Germany never were particularly high. This also resulted in the promotion round now definitely being played by the league champions. Previously, when one of the five divisions was won by a reserve team, the best placed first team from the division was entered in the promotion round.

1984-1991[]

The year 1984 saw the DDR-Liga revert to a two-group system, now with eighteen clubs per division and direct promotion for the champions again. Also, reserve teams were re-admitted to the league but still barred from promotion to the Oberliga.

The 1989-90 season was the last under the old East German system; in the following season the league operated under the name of NOFV-Liga, meaning Nordostdeutscher Fussballverband-Liga (English:Northeast German FA League). The majority of clubs moved away from their, mostly communist, background and adopted new or pre-DDR names. In its final season, 1990–91, the league was under the authority of the DFB, the (West) German Football Association. Reduced to sixteen clubs per division and without reserve teams now, the clubs played for qualification in the united German football league system from 1991. With the exception of the bottom two teams in each league, all clubs went to the new NOFV-Oberligas, the new tier III leagues in what was East Germany and West Berlin.

Current leagues[]

The NOFV-Oberliga Nord, the equivalent of the DDR-Liga Staffel A, and the NOFV-Oberliga Süd, the former DDR-Liga Staffel B, are in a geographical sense the continuation of the old leagues, covering the same regions, albeit not on tier II level anymore, but as a tier V competition.

Leagues below the DDR-Liga[]

For the most part of the existence of the DDR-Liga, the leagues below it were the 15 Bezirksligas. Those were introduced in 1952. For a brief period from 1955 to 1963, the 2nd DDR-Liga formed the third tier of the East German pyramid. This league, consisting of five regional divisions, was abolished again in 1963 and the Bezirksligas became the level immediately below the DDR-Liga again. In its last season, the newly recreated states of former East Germany introduced their own regional leagues, with the exception of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin. Those still exist today. The Bezirksligas however have mostly either disappeared, changed their name or exist in a different format.

The fifteen Bezirksligas were:

Bezirksliga Schwerin
Bezirksliga Rostock
Bezirksliga Neubrandenburg
Bezirksliga Magdeburg
Bezirksliga Potsdam
Bezirksliga Berlin
Bezirksliga Halle
Bezirksliga Frankfurt/Oder
Bezirksliga Cottbus
Bezirksliga Gera
Bezirksliga Erfurt
Bezirksliga Suhl
Bezirksliga Dresden
Bezirksliga Leipzig
Bezirksliga Karl-Marx-Stadt

Champions of the DDR-Liga[]

1950–1955[]

Season	Staffel 1	Staffel 2
1950–51	Anker Wismar	Wismut Aue
1951–52	Empor Lauter	Motor Jena
1952–53	Fortschritt Meerane	Einheit Ost Leipzig
1953–54	Chemie Karl-Marx-Stadt	Vorwärts Berlin

1955–1971[]

Season	Staffel 1	Staffel 2	Staffel 3
1954–55	Lok Stendal		Motor Dessau

Season	DDR-Liga
1955	Fortschritt Meerane
1956	Motor Jena
1957	Dynamo Berlin
1958
1959	Chemie Halle
1960	Turbine Erfurt
1961–62	Dynamo Dresden

Season	Staffel Nord	Staffel Süd
1962–63	Lok Stendal	Motor Steinach
1963–64	SC Neubrandenburg	Dynamo Dresden
1964–65	Chemie Halle	Turbine Erfurt
1965–66	1. FC Union Berlin	Wismut Gera
1966–67	1. FC Magdeburg	Rot-Weiß Erfurt
1967–68	Dynamo Berlin	Stahl Riesa
1968-69	Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt	Dynamo Dresden
1969–70	1. FC Union Berlin	1. FC Lok Leipzig
1970–71	Vorwärts Stralsund	FC Karl-Marx-Stadt

1971–1984[]

Season	Staffel A	Staffel B	Staffel C	Staffel D	Staffel E
1971–72	TSG Wismar	Dynamo Berlin II	Chemie Leipzig		Rot-Weiß Erfurt
1972–73	Vorwärts Stralsund	Dynamo Berlin II *	Vorwärts Leipzig	Dynamo Dresden II *	Chemie Zeitz
1973–74	Vorwärts Stralsund	1. FC Union Berlin	Hallescher FC Chemie	Chemie Böhlen	Wismut Gera
1974–75	Dynamo Schwerin	1. FC Union Berlin	Chemie Leipzig	Energie Cottbus	Wismut Gera
1975–76	Hansa Rostock	1. FC Union Berlin	Hallescher FC Chemie II	Motor Werdau	FC Carl Zeiss Jena II
1976–77	Vorwärts Stralsund		Chemie Leipzig	Chemie Böhlen	Wismut Gera
1977–78	Hansa Rostock		Chemie Leipzig	Lok Dresden	Stahl Riesa
1978–79		Vorwärts Frankfurt	Chemie Leipzig	Energie Cottbus	Motor Suhl
1979–80	Hansa Rostock	Dynamo Fürstenwalde	Chemie Böhlen	Energie Cottbus	Wismut Gera
1980–81	Schiffahrt/Hafen Rostock	1. FC Union Berlin		Energie Cottbus	Motor Suhl
1981–82	Vorwärts Stralsund	1. FC Union Berlin	Chemie Böhlen	Stahl Riesa	Motor Nordhausen
1982–83		Stahl Brandenburg	Chemie Leipzig	Stahl Riesa	Wismut Gera
1983–84	Vorwärts Neubrandenburg	Stahl Brandenburg	Vorwärts Dessau	Sachsenring Zwickau	Motor Suhl

1984–1991[]

Season	Staffel A	Staffel B
1984–85	1. FC Union Berlin	Sachsenring Zwickau
1985–86	Dynamo Berlin II *	Fortschritt Bischofswerda
1986–87	Hansa Rostock	Hallescher FC Chemie
1987–88	Energie Cottbus	Sachsenring Zwickau
1988–89	Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt	Fortschritt Bischofswerda
1989–90	FC Vorwärts Frankfurt	Chemie Böhlen
1990–91	1. FC Union Berlin	FSV Zwickau

Source: "DDR-Liga". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 4 March 2008.

bold denotes club gained promotion.
In 1973, the runners-up Energie Cottbus (Staffel B) and Stahl Riesa (Staffel D) were promoted as the champions of these two leagues were reserve teams and therefore ineligible for promotion.
In 1986, the runner-up Energie Cottbus was promoted instead.

Placements in the DDR-Liga 1985-1991[]

DDR-Liga Staffel A[]

DDR-Liga Staffel A	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991
FC Hansa Rostock	♦	♦	1	♦	♦	♦	♦
Energie Cottbus	3	2	♦	1	♦	♦	♦
Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt	2	10	7	15	1	♦	♦
Vorwärts Frankfurt/Oder	♦	♦	♦	♦	3	1	♦
Fortschritt Bischofswerda	B	B	♦	B	B	♦	4
1. FC Union Berlin	1	♦	♦	♦	♦	2	1
Chemie Leipzig	♦	3	10	B	B	B
			18			11	2
	5	9	11	2	6	4	3
Bergmann-Borsig Berlin						8	5
Post Neubrandenburg	12	15	15	6	11	9	6
Aktivist Schwarze Pumpe	9	11	B	12	5	5	7
Lok Altmark Stendal				16	18		8
					15	14	9
Aktivist Brieske-Senftenberg	11	16		5	16		10
KKW Greifswald		6	9	7	12	6	11
	16		17		7	7	12
		12	13	17		16	13
Motor Eberswalde							14
Dynamo Schwerin	14	13	12	8	9	13	15
						10	16
Vorwärts Dessau	B	5	3	B	B	B	B
	13	B	B	B	B	B
Chemie Velten *						3
Dynamo Fürstenwalde *	6	14	2	9	2	12
Kabelwerk Oberspree Berlin					14	15
Motor Ludwigsfelde			14	4	13	17
			B	13	10	18
BFC Dynamo II *	8	1	5	3	4
Vorwärts Stralsund *	7	4	4	10	8
Aktivist Brieske-Senftenberg					16
Motor Babelsberg	3	8	8	11	17
Vorwärts Frankfurt/Oder II *	10	7	6	14
FC Hansa Rostock II				18
ISG Schwerin Süd	17		16
		17
	15	18
Chemie Wolfen	18

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

Names shown are the ones the clubs carried over most of these seasons, not necessarily the ones they carried in the last two seasons or their current ones.
♦ denotes club played in the DDR-Oberliga.
B denotes club played in the Staffel B that season.
In 1990, BSG Chemie Velten and Dynamo Fürstenwalde withdrew from the league.
In 1989, BFC Dynamo Berlin II and Vorwärts Stralsund withdrew from the league.
In 1988, Vorwärts Frankfurt/Oder II had to withdraw from the league because the first team was relegated.

DDR-Liga Staffel B[]

DDR-Liga Staffel B	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991
Chemie Halle	2	2	1	♦	♦	♦	♦
FC Sachsen Leipzig *							♦
Wismut Aue	♦	♦	♦	♦	♦	♦	2
Fortschritt Bischofswerda	5	1	♦	5	1	♦	A
Sachsenring Zwickau	1	♦	2	1	♦	4	1
Stahl Riesa	♦	♦	♦	♦	11	3	11
Chemie Leipzig *	♦	A	A	6	6	2
Motor Suhl	♦	14	11	10	3	9	12
Chemie Böhlen *	4	3	3	13	7	1
Aktivist Schwarze Pumpe	A	A	4	A	A	A	A
Vorwärts Dessau	6	A	A	3	2	5	16
Stahl Thale				2	14	6	3
Motor Karl Marx Stadt	11	17			15	10	4
	18			11	4	8	5
Wismut Gera	9	12	8	9	5	11	6
	8	13	10	8	8	17	7
						7	8
					17		9
		9	13	14	13	12	10
Motor Nordhausen	7	10	5	15	16		13
	17		15	17			15
		15	18			13	16
Motor Schönebeck			6	A	A	A
Chemie Buna-Schkopau	A	11	7	7	12	14
	15	7	16			15
Aufbau dkk Krumhermersdorf	16					16
Union Mühlhausen						18
Dynamo Dresden II *	3	6	12	4	9
	14	4	9	12	18
				16
FC Carl Zeiss Jena II	10	5	14	18
	13	8	17
FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt II	12	16
Wismut Aue II		18