Gauliga Hessen
 |
|
| Country |
 Nazi Germany
|
|---|---|
|
State and Province |
|
| Gau (from 1934) | Gau Electoral Hesse |
| Founded | 1933 |
| Folded | 1945 (12 seasons) |
| Replaced by | Oberliga Süd |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Tschammerpokal |
| Last champions |
Reichsbahn SG Borussia Fulda (1943-44) |
The Gauliga Hessen was the highest football league in the German state of Hesse and the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau from 1933 to 1945. From 1941, it was renamed Gauliga Kurhessen. Shortly after the formation of the league, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Germany, and the Gau Electoral Hesse replaced the Prussian province and the Peoples State.
The league was introduced by the Nazi Sports Office in 1933, after the Nazi take over of power in Germany and Baden. It replaced the Bezirksliga as the highest level of play in German football competitions.
The Gauliga Hessen was established with ten clubs, all from the region of Hesse.
The Gauliga replaced as such the Bezirksliga Main-Hessen and Bezirksliga Hessen-Hannover, the highest leagues in the region until then. As such, it mixed clubs which had previously belonged to different Football Associations, the Southern German FA (Main/Hessen) and the West German FA (Hessen/Hannover).
The region it covered was never particularly successful in German football and this didn't change with the establishment of the Gauliga. No club from this league reached any German cup or championship final in this period.
In its first season, the league had ten clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league winner qualified for the German championship while the bottom two teams were relegated. The league remained unchanged until the outbreak of World War II.
In 1939-40 and 1940–41, the league played in two separate groups of six teams with a home-and-away final at the end to determine the leagues champion.
In 1941, the league returned to a single-division format and renamed Gauliga Kurhessen, but with only nine clubs. Also, some of the clubs from the south, like FC Hanau 93, left the league for the new Gauliga Hessen-Nassau. The 1942-43 season was played in the same modus.
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