1959 German football championship

1959 German championship final
Event German football championship
Date 28 June 1959
Venue Olympiastadion, Berlin
Referee Erich Asmussen
Attendance 75,000
1958
1960

The 55th German football championship was the culmination of the football season in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1958-59. Eintracht Frankfurt were crowned champions for the first time after a group stage and a final.

It was Eintracht's second appearance in the German final, having previously lost to FC Bayern Munich in 1932. The team won all seven games it played in the finals. On the strength of this title, the club participated in the 1959–60 European Cup, where it became the first German club to reach the final.

For the losing finalist, Kickers Offenbach, it was its second time to reach the national title game, having lost to VfB Stuttgart in 1950. It was also the only time the final was contested by two clubs from the state of Hesse.

The format used to determine the German champion was very similar to the one used in the 1957 and 1958 season. Nine clubs qualified for the tournament, with the runners-up of North and Southwest having to play a qualification match. The remaining eight clubs then played a home-and-away round in two groups of four, with the two group winners entering the final. In previous seasons, only a single round had been played in the group stage, increasing the number of group games per team from three to six from 1959.

Contents

Qualified teams

Club Qualified from
Hamburger SV Oberliga Nord champions
SV Werder Bremen Oberliga Nord runners-up
Westfalia Herne Oberliga West champions
1. FC Köln Oberliga West runners-up
Tasmania 1900 Berlin Oberliga Berlin champions
FK Pirmasens Oberliga Südwest champions
Borussia Neunkirchen Oberliga Südwest runners-up
Eintracht Frankfurt Oberliga Süd champions
Kickers Offenbach Oberliga Süd runners-up

Competition

Qualifying round

Group 1

Matches

Table

Team GP W D L GF GA DIF PTS
Eintracht Frankfurt 6 6 0 0 26 11 15 12
1. FC Köln 6 2 1 3 10 14 -4 5
FK Pirmasens 6 2 0 4 16 18 -2 4
Werder Bremen 6 1 1 4 12 21 -9 3

Group 2

Matches

Date Match Result Stadium Attendance
16 May 1959 Westfalia Herne Tasmania 1900 Berlin 1–0 (1–0) Dortmund, Stadion Rote Erde 30,000
16 May 1959 Kickers Offenbach Hamburger SV 3–2 (0–2) Frankfurt am Main, Waldstadion 80,000
23 May 1959 Hamburger SV Westfalia Herne 4–2 (2–0) Hamburg, Volksparkstadion 70,000
23 May 1959 Tasmania 1900 Berlin Kickers Offenbach 2–2 (0–2) Berlin, Olympiastadion 70,000
30 May 1959 Tasmania 1900 Berlin Hamburger SV 0–2 (0–0) Berlin, Olympiastadion 90,000
30 May 1959 Westfalia Herne Kickers Offenbach 1–4 (0–1) Dortmund, Stadion Rote Erde 45,000
7 June 1959 Hamburger SV Tasmania 1900 Berlin 3–0 (0–0) Hamburg, Volksparkstadion 65,000
7 June 1959 Kickers Offenbach Westfalia Herne 2–1 (0–0) Frankfurt am Main, Waldstadion 56,000
13 June 1959 Westfalia Herne Hamburger SV 3–1 (1–1) Dortmund, Stadion Rote Erde 42,000
13 June 1959 Kickers Offenbach Tasmania 1900 Berlin 3–2 (0–1) Frankfurt am Main, Waldstadion 35,000
20 June 1959 Hamburger SV Kickers Offenbach 1–0 (0–0) Hamburg, Volksparkstadion 65,000
20 June 1959 Tasmania 1900 Berlin Westfalia Herne 2-0 (0–0) Berlin, Olympiastadion 22,000

Table

Team GP W D L GF GA DIF PTS
Kickers Offenbach 6 4 1 1 14 9 5 9
Hamburger SV 6 4 0 2 13 8 5 8
Westfalia Herne 6 2 0 4 8 13 -5 4
Tasmania 1900 Berlin 6 1 1 4 6 11 -5 3

Final

Date Match Result Stadium Attendance
28 June 1959 Eintracht Frankfurt Kickers Offenbach 5–3 aet (2–2, 2–2) Berlin, Olympiastadion 75,000

Teams

Eintracht Frankfurt:
1 Egon Loy
2 Hans Weilbächer
3 Friedel Lutz
4 Hermann Höfer
5 Hans-Walter Eigenbrodt
6 István Sztani  1'  108'
7 Dieter Stinka
8 Dieter Lindner
9 Eckehard Feigenspan  14'  92' (pen)  119'
10 Alfred Pfaff
11 Richard Kreß
Manager:
Paul Oßwald
Kickers Offenbach:
1 Walter Zimmermann
2 Karl Waldmann
3 Alfred Schultheis
4 Hermann Nuber
5 Ernst Wade
6 Heinz Lichtl
7 Gerhard Kaufhold
8 Helmut Preisendörfer  23'
9 Berti Kraus  8'
10 Willi Keim
11 Siegfried Gast  110'
Manager:
Bogdan Cuvaj

Sources

References