DDR Oberliga
Founded
1949
Disbanded
1991
Nation
East Germany
Relegation To
DDR Liga Staffel A
DDR Liga Staffel B
Number of Seasons
41
Replaced by
Bundesliga
Level on Pyramid
Level 1
Last Champions 1990-91
F.C. Hansa Rostock

The DDR-Oberliga (English:East German Premier League or GDR-Premier League) was, prior to German reunification in 1990, the elite level of football competition in the DDR (Deutsche Demokratische Republik or German Democratic Republic, commonly East Germany), being roughly equivalent to the Oberliga (1945–1963) or Bundesliga (1963–1990) in West Germany.

Overview[link]

Following World War II, separate sports competitions emerged in the occupied eastern and western halves of Germany, replacing the Gauligas of the Nazi era.

In East Germany, a top-flight football competition, the highest league in the East German football league system, was established in 1949 as the DS-Oberliga (Deutscher Sportausschuss Oberliga or German Sports Association Upper League). Beginning in 1958, it carried the name DDR-Oberliga and was part of the league structure within the DFV (Deutscher Fussball Verband der DDR or German Football Association of the GDR).

In its inaugural season in 1949-50 the DDR-Oberliga was made up of 14 teams with 2 relegation spots.^[1] Over the course of the next four seasons the number of teams in the division varied and included anywhere from 17 to 19 sides with 3 or 4 relegation spots.^[2][3][4][5] Beginning with the 1954-55 season up until merger of the East and West German football associations in 1991-92 the league was made up of 14 teams with 2 relegation spots.^[6]

Initially the DDR-Oberliga was operated on an autumn-spring schedule as was traditional in Germany. From 1956 to 1960 a Soviet-style spring-autumn (calendar year) schedule was in place.^{[citation needed]} This required a transition round in 1955 and, although no champion was formally declared that season, Wismut Karl-Marx-Stadt finished atop the division.^[7] 1961-62 saw the return of an autumn-spring season and an extended schedule (39 matches vs. 26 matches) was played with each club meeting the others a total of three times – once at home, once away, and once at a neutral venue.^[8]

After German reunification the last regular DDR-Oberliga season was played in 1990-91 under the designation NOFV-Oberliga (Nordostdeutsche Fußballverband Oberliga or Northeast German Football Federation Premier League). The following year the East German league structure was merged into the West German system under the German Football Association (Deutscher Fussball Bund or German Football Association) and the top two NOFV-Oberliga clubs – F.C. Hansa Rostock and Dynamo Dresden – joined the first division Bundesliga.

For the duration of the league's existence, the league below it was the DDR-Liga.

Disbanding of the Oberliga[link]

In 1991, the DDR-Oberliga ceased to exist, its clubs being integrated in the German football league system. The fourteen Oberliga clubs went to the following leagues, spread over three tiers:

To the Fussball-Bundesliga (Tier I):

• Dynamo Dresden
• F.C. Hansa Rostock

To the 2nd Bundesliga Nord (Tier II):

• Stahl Brandenburg

To the 2nd Bundesliga Süd (Tier II):

• 1. FC Lok Leipzig
• Chemnitzer FC
• FC Carl Zeiss Jena
• FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt
• Hallescher FC

To the NOFV-Oberliga Nord (Tier III):

• BFC Dynamo Berlin
• FC Stahl Eisenhüttenstadt
• FC Vorwärts Frankfurt/Oder

To the NOFV-Oberliga Mitte (Tier III):

• 1. FC Magdeburg
• FC Energie Cottbus

To the NOFV-Oberliga Süd (Tier III):

• FC Sachsen Leipzig

The Oberliga reformed as the Regionalliga Nordost[link]

In 1994, a new third tier division was established in the area that formerly made up East Germany. The Regionalliga Nordost was made up of most of the big names of the DDR-era alongside clubs from West Berlin. The only clubs from the final season of the old DDR-Oberliga not to appear here were F.C. Hansa Rostock, which was competing at the Bundesliga level, and Hallescher FC which had fallen on hard times.

The league was disbanded again in 2000 and its member clubs were spread between the two remaining Regionalligas (III) and the NOFV-Oberligas (IV), effectively ending the history of the all-East German leagues.

The Regionalliga Nordost will return in 2012/13 as one of five fourth-tier regional leagues. The new league will cover the area of the former GDR and Berlin and the champions of this new division will qualify for a play-off against the winner of another Regionalliga or against the eighteenth-placed team in the 3rd Liga to determine promotion to the 3rd Liga.

DDR-Oberliga champions[link]

BFC Dynamo Berlin was the league record holder with 10 DDR-Oberliga titles to its credit, having won all of these titles in successive seasons.

Source:"DDR Oberliga". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. http://www.f-archiv.de/. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 

Placings in the DDR-Oberliga 1975-1991[link]

Source:"DDR-Oberliga". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. http://www.f-archiv.de/. Retrieved 2008-03-15. 

• Names shown are the ones the clubs carried over most of this seasons, which are not necessarily the ones they carried in the last two seasons or their current ones.
• The Chemie Leipzig and Chemie Böhlen merged in 1990, to form FC Sachsen Leipzig.

See also[link]

• Regionalliga Nordost
• NOFV-Oberliga
• NOFV-Oberliga Süd
• NOFV-Oberliga Mitte
• NOFV-Oberliga Nord

External links[link]

• The DDR-Oberliga at Fussballdaten.de
• Overall table of the DDR-Oberliga
• DDR-Oberliga results & tables
• DDR-Oberliga at Weltfussball.de

Sources[link]

• Das deutsche Fussball Archiv
• The DDR-Oberliga at RSSSF.com
• Fußball in der DDR

References[link]

René Müller

Personal information
Date of birth	(1959-02-11) 11 February 1959 (age 53)
Place of birth	Leipzig, East Germany
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	1. FC Nuremberg II (Manager)
Youth career
1965–1970	BSG Aktivist Markkleeberg
1970–1976	Lokomotive Leipzig
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1976–1990	Lokomotive Leipzig	264	(0)
1990–1991	Sachsen Leipzig	26	(0)
1991–1994	Dynamo Dresden	81	(0)
1994–1995	FC St. Pauli	5	(0)
National team
1984–1989	East Germany	46	(0)
Teams managed
2000–2003	VFC Plauen
2003–2005	Rot-Weiß Erfurt
2005–2006	Hallescher FC
2007–2011	1. FC Nuremberg II
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

René Müller (born 11 February 1959) is a German former footballer. Müller was first-choice goalkeeper of the East German national team for much of the 1980s, and was twice East German Footballer of the Year. He played for Lokomotive Leipzig for fourteen years, and later had spells with Dynamo Dresden, Sachsen Leipzig and FC St. Pauli. He is now a coach, he was managing 1. FC Nuremberg's reserve team from 2007 until April 11, 2011.

Honours[link]

• FDGB Pokal: 1981, 1986, 1987
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: Runner-up 1987

External links[link]

• Club career
• International career

v t e East German Footballer of the Year 1963: Kaiser 1964: Urbanczyk 1965: Weigang 1966: Nöldner 1967: Erler 1968: Bransch 1969: Vogel 1970: R. Ducke 1971: P. Ducke 1972: Croy 1973: Kreische 1974: Bransch 1975: Pommerenke 1976: Croy 1977: Dörner 1978: Croy 1979: Streich 1980: Grapenthin 1981: Grapenthin 1982: Schnuphase 1983: Streich 1984: Dörner 1985: Dörner 1986: Müller 1987: Müller 1988: Thom 1989: Trautmann 1990: Kirsten 1991: Gütschow

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Andreas Thom

Thom receiving the East German Footballer of the Year award in 1988
Personal information
Date of birth	(1965-09-07) 7 September 1965 (age 46)
Place of birth	Rüdersdorf bei Berlin, East Germany
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Holstein Kiel (Assistant Manager)
Youth career
1971–1974	TSG Herzfelde
1974–1983	BFC Dynamo
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1983–1990	BFC Dynamo	158	(77)
1990–1995	Bayer Leverkusen	161	(36)
1995–1998	Celtic	71	(14)
1998–2001	Hertha BSC	51	(5)
Total		441	(132)
National team
	East Germany U21	3	(0)
1984–1990	East Germany	51	(16)
1990–1994	Germany	10	(2)
Teams managed
2003	Hertha BSC
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Andreas Thom (born 7 September 1965 in Rüdersdorf, Germany) is a former German football player who was capped by East Germany, and later Germany. He is a youth coach at Hertha BSC.

Club career[link]

Thom played for BFC Dynamo, winning the DDR-Oberliga in 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988, and the GDR cup in 1988 and 1989. In 1988 he was the top scorer and also the East German Footballer of the Year. In 1990, for a transfer fee of 2.5 million Deutsche Mark, he moved to Bayer Leverkusen. Until 2000, he played for Leverkusen (161 Bundesliga matches, 37 goals), Hertha BSC (51 Bundesliga matches, 5 goals), and from 1995 to 1997, Celtic in Glasgow, Scotland, for a then club record fee of £2.2million.^{[citation needed]}

International career[link]

Thom played for the East Germany national football team between 1984 and 1990, making 51 appearances and scoring 16 goals. After the reunification of Germany, he played for the unified team in 10 matches and scoring 2 goals.

Honours[link]

• East German Champion: 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
• East German Cup: 1988, 1989
• German Cup: 1993
• Scottish League champion: 1998
• Scottish League Cup: 1997
• UEFA European Championship: Runner-up 1992

External links[link]

• Bundesliga stats
• Andreas Thom - Goals in International Matches and Andreas Thom - Matches in Oberliga in the RSSSF archive

v t e Germany squad – UEFA Euro 1992 Runners-up 1 Illgner 2 Reuter 3 Brehme (c) 4 Kohler 5 Binz 6 Buchwald 7 Möller 8 Häßler 9 Völler 10 Doll 11 Riedle 12 Köpke 13 Thom 14 Helmer 15 Frontzeck 16 Sammer 17 Effenberg 18 Klinsmann 19 Schulz 20 Wörns Coach: Vogts

v t e East German Footballer of the Year 1963: Kaiser 1964: Urbanczyk 1965: Weigang 1966: Nöldner 1967: Erler 1968: Bransch 1969: Vogel 1970: R. Ducke 1971: P. Ducke 1972: Croy 1973: Kreische 1974: Bransch 1975: Pommerenke 1976: Croy 1977: Dörner 1978: Croy 1979: Streich 1980: Grapenthin 1981: Grapenthin 1982: Schnuphase 1983: Streich 1984: Dörner 1985: Dörner 1986: Müller 1987: Müller 1988: Thom 1989: Trautmann 1990: Kirsten 1991: Gütschow

v t e DDR-Oberliga Top Scorer 1949–50: Satrapa 1950–51: Schöne 1951–52: Krause 1952–53: Arlt 1953–54: Satrapa 1954–55: Tröger 1955: Seligow 1956: Lindner 1957: Kaulmann 1958: Müller 1959: Bauchspieß 1960: Bauchspieß 1961–62: Bialas 1962–63: Ducke 1963–64: Backhaus 1964–65: Bauchspieß 1965–66: Frenzel 1966–67: Rentzsch 1967–68: Kostmann 1968–69: Kostmann 1969–70: Skrowny 1970–71: Kreische 1971–72: Kreische 1972–73: Kreische 1973–74: Matoul 1974–75: Vogel 1975–76: Kreische 1976–77: Streich 1977–78: Havenstein 1978–79: Streich 1979–80: Kühn 1980–81: Streich 1981–82: Schnuphase 1982–83: Streich 1983–84: Ernst 1984–85: Ernst 1985–86: Sträßer 1986–87: Pastor 1987–88: Thom 1988–89: Gütschow 1989–90: Gütschow 1990–91: Gütschow

Rainer Ernst (born 31 December 1961 in Neustrelitz) is a former German footballer who amassed 56 caps for East Germany.^[1]

Career[link]

Hendrik Herzog, Matthias Sammer, Rainer Ernst

Until the age of 14, Ernst played in the Dynamo Neutrelitz youth side. He then transferred to BFC Dynamo, where he played in 203 league games, scoring 88 goals, until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, when he was signed by 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He stayed with the club for just one season, playing 18 games and scoring two goals, before moving to the French league with Girondins Bordeaux for the 1991–92. With Bordeaux he scored seven goals in 24 games during the club's return to the French top-flight. Ernst didn't, however, return with the club, as in the summer of 1992 he moved to AS Cannes in Ligue 2. He played just seven games in Cannes and scored no goals, a record which saw him transfer to FC Zürich the following season. He then moved to Servette FC in 1993–94, before returning to Germany in 1994 to spend two years in the regional league with FSV Salmrohr. He retired from professional football in 1996.

Honours[link]

With BFC Dynamo, Ernst was DDR-Oberliga champion for ten consecutive years (1978–79 to 1987–88), and also German Bundesliga champion with Kaiserslautern in the 1990–91 season.

• FDGB Pokal winners 1987–88 and 1988–89
• DDR-Oberliga top goalscorer 1983–84 (20 goals) and 1984–85 (24 goals)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Rainer Ernst at the German Football Association website (German)

v t e DDR-Oberliga Top Scorer 1949–50: Satrapa 1950–51: Schöne 1951–52: Krause 1952–53: Arlt 1953–54: Satrapa 1954–55: Tröger 1955: Seligow 1956: Lindner 1957: Kaulmann 1958: Müller 1959: Bauchspieß 1960: Bauchspieß 1961–62: Bialas 1962–63: Ducke 1963–64: Backhaus 1964–65: Bauchspieß 1965–66: Frenzel 1966–67: Rentzsch 1967–68: Kostmann 1968–69: Kostmann 1969–70: Skrowny 1970–71: Kreische 1971–72: Kreische 1972–73: Kreische 1973–74: Matoul 1974–75: Vogel 1975–76: Kreische 1976–77: Streich 1977–78: Havenstein 1978–79: Streich 1979–80: Kühn 1980–81: Streich 1981–82: Schnuphase 1982–83: Streich 1983–84: Ernst 1984–85: Ernst 1985–86: Sträßer 1986–87: Pastor 1987–88: Thom 1988–89: Gütschow 1989–90: Gütschow 1990–91: Gütschow

This biographical article related to a German association football forward born in the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Ralf Minge

Personal information
Date of birth	(1960-10-08) October 8, 1960 (age 51)
Place of birth	Prösen, Germany
Playing position	Striker
Youth career
	TSG Gröditz
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1991	Dynamo Dresden	222	(103)
Total		222	(103)
National team
1983–1989	East Germany	36	(8)
Teams managed
1993	Dynamo Dresden
1995	Dynamo Dresden
1995–1996	Erzgebirge Aue
2000–2005	Bayer Leverkusen II
2006–2007	Georgia U-21
2010–	Germany U-20
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Ralf Minge (born October 8, 1960) is a German former footballer, later a coach, who currently works as head coach of the Germany national under-20 football team.^[1]

He was an international for East Germany, and spent his entire professional career with Dynamo Dresden.

Playing career[link]

A striker, Minge joined Dynamo Dresden in 1980, signing from TSG Gröditz, and spent the next eleven years with the club, winning two East German titles and four cups. He scored 103 league goals for the club, and ranks as the club's third top scorer, behind Hans-Jürgen Kreische and Torsten Gütschow. He retired in 1991, at the end of the last ever DDR-Oberliga season. At international level, Minge won 36 caps between 1983 and 1989, scoring eight times.

Ralf Minge (right) in a 1987 match against Vorwärts Frankfurt/Oder.

Coaching career[link]

After retiring from the game, Minge had a brief spell on the board at Dynamo, before serving on the coaching staff for three years, during which he had two brief spells as manager, in 1993 and 1995, the last of which saw Dynamo's relegation from the Bundesliga, a relegation that was doubled due to financial misdealings.

Minge then left Dynamo, and in July 1995 took up the post as manager of Erzgebirge Aue, where he served for ten months. His next job came in 1998, assisting Toni Schumacher at Fortuna Köln. In December 1999, Schumacher was sacked, and Minge briefly stepped in as manager, but left by the end of the month, out of loyalty to his former colleague.

In 2000, he made the shot trip to Leverkusen, taking over the reserve team of Bayer 04, before the appointment of Klaus Toppmöller saw Minge promoted to the role of assistant manager. The club were almost hugely successful in 2001/02, reaching the finals of the DFB-Pokal and the UEFA Champions League, and finishing second in the Bundesliga. The success could not last, however, and many of the star players left, ultimately leading to Toppmöller losing his job. Minge eventually dropped back to managing Bayer Leverkusen II, before resigning at the end of the 2004/05 season.

He returned to Dresden to study psychology, but his break from football was to be short-lived, as in January 2006 he reunited with Klaus Toppmöller, this time as assistant coach of the Georgia national team, also managing the under-21s. In September 2006, he rejoined the Dynamo Dresden board, and in January 2008, took up the role as Sporting Director, ending his spell in Georgia. In March 2009, he resigned from the board.^[2] After one year without an job signed on 22 February 2010 a contract as head coach of the Germany national under-20 football team, he will begin with his new job on 1 March 2010.^[3]

Honours[link]

• East German Cup (4): 1982, 1984, 1985, 1990
• East German Champion (2): 1989, 1990

References[link]

This article incorporates information from the German Wikipedia.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ralf Minge

• Ralf Minge at National-Football-Teams.com
• (German) Official website