Gauliga Mittelrhein The league was introduced by the
Nazi Sports Office in 1933, after the
Nazi takeover of power in Germany. It replaced the
Bezirksligas and
Oberligas as the highest level of play in German football competitions. In its first season, the league had eleven clubs, playing each other once at home and once away. The league champion then qualified for the
German championship. The bottom three teams were relegated. The season after, the league was reduced to ten teams and remained at this strength until 1939. From 1937, it also included
Alemannia Aachen which had previously belonged to the
Gauliga Niederrhein. Due to the outbreak of
World War II in 1939, the league was split into two regional groups, a northern division of seven and a southern of six clubs. The two group champions then played a home-and-away final for the
Gauliga championship. In its last season, 1940–41, the league returned to a single-division, ten-team format. At the end of this season, the league was split into two separate
Gauligas, divided along the administrative divisions of the two
Gaue.
Gauliga Köln-Aachen The territory of the new
Gauliga Köln-Aachen was made up of the area of the
Gau Köln-Aachen and the
Eupen-Malmedy region, the German-speaking part of
Belgium which had been annexed to the
Gau after the German victory in 1940. However, no club from this formerly Belgian region played at highest level during the war. The league started with nine clubs in a single division in 1941 and expanded to ten for the 1942–43 season. In its last completed season, 1943–44, it returned to a strength of nine teams. There is no record of play in the 1944–45 season as war overtook the region, including the conquest of
Aachen by the allied forces.
Gauliga Moselland The territory of the new
Gauliga Moselland was made up of the area of the
Gau Moselland and
Luxembourg, which had been annexed by Germany in 1940 and added to the
Gau. The league started out with two regional divisions of six clubs each with a home-and-away final to determine the
Gauliga champion. The western group compromised two clubs from the city of
Trier and four Luxembourgian clubs. The league modus remained the same for the 1942–43 season but the number of clubs from Luxembourg increased to five. In the 1943–44 season, the eastern group comprised five teams while the western had seven clubs. There is no record of a 1944–45 season as allied forces had arrived in the region in late 1944.
Aftermath With the end of the Nazi era, the
Gauligas ceased to exist and the northern part of the region found itself in the
British occupation zone while the south became part of the
French zone. The annexed regions of Belgium and Luxembourg were taken from Germany again after 1945. The
Oberliga Südwest was introduced as the highest football league in the French occupation zone in 1945, replacing the
Gauliga. The territory of the pre-1940
Gau Moselland became part of the new state of
Rhineland-Palatinate. In the British zone, which the former
Gau Köln-Aachen was part of, top-level football did not resume straight away, unlike in Southern Germany, and only in 1947 was a new, highest league introduced, the
Oberliga West, which covered all of the new state of
North Rhine-Westphalia. ==Founding members of the league==