The Länderpokal (English: States Cup) is the oldest cup competition of the German Football Association. It came into existence as the Kronprinzenpokal (English:Crown Prince Cup) but has changed its name various times since. The cup is held annually at the Sportschule Duisburg-Wedau. Contestants in the cup are teams of the 21 regional football associations, composed of youth players from that area. Also guest teams are invited each year since 2005, which play in the competition but will not be awarded a place in the final standings.
In the past, the cup was contested by senior regional selections, later by senior amateur selections from the Amateur-Oberligas and below. In the mid-1990s, this was changed to Under-21 selections. In 1981 the a women's competition was introduced. Record titleholder for the men's competition is the Bavarian football association.
History
The competition was formed in 1908, when the German Crown Prince William donated a cup to the German Football Association - DFB, to initiate the Kronprinzenpokal. His only condition for the new competition was that the final was always to be played in Berlin.Kick it like Kronprinz Spiegel Online, accessed: 11 June 2009
The trophy had an inscription engraved which it still bears today:
The Kronprinzenpokal was initially contested by only seven teams, the selections of the seven regional German football associations, North, South, West, Brandenburg, Central, South East and Baltic.
With the end of the First World War, the name of the competition was altered to reflect the fact, that Germany was not a monarchy anymore. The trophy donated by William with its inscription is however still used and handed to the winner each season.
Winners
Kronprinzenpokal Held from 1909 to 1918, when the monarchy in Germany was abolished, the Crown Prince Cup was the first version of the tournament. It was contested between the selections of the seven regional football associations in Germany at the time. The competition was interrupted by the First World War and was not held in 1915 and 1916: YearWinner 1909 Central Germany 1910 Southern Germany 1911 Northern Germany 1912 Southern Germany 1913 Western Germany 1914 Northern Germany 1915 not held 1916 not held 1917 Northern Germany 1918 Brandenburg
Bundespokal The competition continued in its previous form after the end of the monarchy, in the new German Republic, now renamed Federal Cup: YearWinner 1919 Northern Germany 1920 Western Germany 1921 Central Germany 1922 Southern Germany 1923 Southern Germany 1924 Southern Germany 1925 Northern Germany 1926 Southern Germany 1927 Central Germany 1928 South Eastern Germany 1929 Brandenburg 1930 Northern Germany 1931 Southern Germany 1932 Northern Germany 1933 Southern Germany
Reichsbundpokal In 1933, with the rise of the Nazis to power, the old regional football federations were abolished, football in Germany was centralized and the Gauligas were introduced, 16 regional first divisions. A new competition to replace the Bundespokal was introduced in 1935, now contested by selections from the Gaue, the new administrative subdivisions of Germany. This competition lasted until 1942, when the consequences caused by the Second World War made football more and more difficult. YearWinner 1935 Gau Mitte 1936 Gau Sachsen 1937 Gau Niederrhein 1938 Gau Nordmark 1939 Gauliga Schlesien 1940 Gau Bayern 1941 Gau Sachsen 1942 Gau Niederrhein
Länderpokal Staged for the first and only time after the Second World War, the State Cup was played in 1950 and won by Bavaria.
Amateur-Länderpokal From 1951 onwards, the competition, now renamed Amateur State Cup, was open only to non-professional players. It started out with the selections of the fifteen regional football federations in West Germany, not including East German or Saarland selections, the later entering a team from 1957. Selections from the five East German federations only started to participate after the German reunion. The now twenty-one regional football federations are not always identical in size to the current sixteen German federal states; a number of states have more than one federation. YearWinnerRunners-upResult 1951 Lower Rhine Berlin 5–4 aet 1952 Bavaria Lower Rhine 4–0 1953 Bavaria Lower Saxony 5–2 1954 Bavaria Schleswig-Holstein 3–0 1955 Bavaria Westphalia 5–2 1956 Hesse Lower Rhine 3–1 1957 Lower Saxony Westphalia 3–2 1958 Lower Rhine Lower Saxony 2–0 1959 Hamburg Hesse 4–1 1960 Middle Rhine Hesse 3–0 1961 Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein 2–1 1962 Westphalia Middle Rhine 2–1 1963 Bavaria Hesse 3–1 1964 Middle Rhine South Baden 4–0 1965 Bavaria Westphalia 3–2 1966 Westphalia Lower Saxony 1–0 1967 North Baden Hesse 2–1 1968 Bavaria Hamburg 5–0 1969 North Baden Hamburg 2–1 1970 Bavaria North Baden 2–1 1971 Bavaria Lower Rhine 2–1 aet 1972 North Baden Lower Saxony 2–1 1973 North Baden Lower Rhine 1–1 aet 1 1974 Middle Rhine Westphalia 1–0 1975 South West North Baden 0–0 aet (4–2 pso) 1976 Lower Saxony Bavaria 1–0 1977 Bavaria South West 4–2 aet 1978 Westphalia Lower Saxony 1–0 / 1–0 1979 Württemberg Berlin 2–1 1980 Bavaria Lower Rhine 4–2 1981 South West Hesse 1–1 aet (4–3 pso) 1982 South West Lower Rhine 3–1 1983 Hesse Schleswig-Holstein 2–1 aet 1984 Bremen Bavaria 3–1 1985 Rhineland Hamburg 1–1 aet (3–2 pso) 1986 Westphalia Lower Rhine 0–0 aet (4–2 pso) 1987 Lower Saxony Berlin 3–1 1988 Württemberg Lower Rhine 2–0 1989 Bavaria Hesse 2–2 aet (4–2 pso) 1990 Bavaria Baden 3–0 1991 Lower Rhine Hesse 1–1 aet (4–3 pso) 1992 Hesse Bremen 3–2 1993 Westphalia Hesse 5–2 1994 Westphalia Bavaria 3–1 aet 1995 Lower Rhine Rhineland 1–0 1996 Baden Middle Rhine 1–0 1997 Westphalia Rhineland 4–1 1998 Westphalia Middle Rhine 5–2 1999 Schleswig-Holstein Lower Saxony 4–1 2000 Bavaria Westphalia 2–1 2001 Württemberg Westphalia 3–0 2002 Middle Rhine Westphalia 3–0 2003 South West Lower Saxony 2–2 aet (4–2 pso) 2004 Middle Rhine Bremen 1–0
Since 2005, a final is not played anymore and the competitions winner is determined by a group stage. YearWinnerRunners-up 2005 Saxony Württemberg 2006 Lower Rhine Middle Rhine 2007 Lower Rhine Baden 2008 South West Berlin 2009 Württemberg Westphalia 2010 Middle Rhine Württemberg 1 North Baden declared the winner because Lower Rhine was unable to field a team for the rematch.
Competitors
1950 onwards The selections of the twenty-one regional German football federations take part in the cup, these being: Bavaria (Bayern), covering the state of Bavaria Berlin, covering the city state of Berlin + Brandenburg, covering the state of Brandenburg + Bremen, covering the city state of Bremen Hamburg covering the city state of Hamburg Hesse (Hessen), covering the state of Hesse Lower Rhine (Niederrhein), covering the north western part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), covering the state of Lower Saxony Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, covering the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern + Middle Rhine (Mittelrhein), covering the south western part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia North Baden (Nordbaden), covering the north western part of the state of Baden-Württemberg Rhineland (Rheinland), covering the northern half of Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland, covering the state of Saarland Saxony (Sachsen), covering the state of Saxony + Saxony-Anhalt (Sachsen-Anhalt), covering the state of Saxony-Anhalt + Schleswig-Holstein, covering the state of Schleswig-Holstein South Baden (Südbaden), covering the south western part of the state of Baden-Württemberg South West (Südwest), covering the southern half of Rhineland-Palatinate Thuringia (Thüringen), covering the state of Thuringia + Westphalia (Westfalen), covering the eastern part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia Württemberg, covering the eastern part of the state of Baden-Württemberg, divided into north and south in the first edition in 1951. + Formerly part of East Germany, except Berlin, which was divided between East and West. German names in brackets, when different from English name.
References
Sources kicker Allmanach 1990, by kicker, page 216 & 225 – Der Länderpokal der Amateure (German Amateur State Cup)
External links Official website (in German) Detailed article about the competition at Spiegel Online (in German)