The 1955 German football championship was the culmination of the football season in West Germany in 1954-55. Rot-Weiss Essen were crowned champions for the first time after a group stage and a final.
It was Rot-Weiss Essen's first (and only) appearance in the German final, while Kaiserslautern were making their fifth appearance. It was also the fourth time Kaiserlautern had reached the final in five years, following their championship wins in 1951 and 1953, and their defeat in 1954.
The format used to determine the German champions was different from that which was used in the 1954 season. Nine teams qualified for the tournament, with those who qualified as a runner-up having to play qualifying matches. The remaining eight teams were split into two groups of four, and played two rounds of matches with games played home and away. The two group winners then played the national final.
Qualified teams The teams qualified through the 1954–55 Oberliga season: Club Qualified from Hamburger SV Oberliga Nord champions Bremerhaven 93 Oberliga Nord runners-up Rot-Weiss Essen Oberliga West champions SV Sodingen Oberliga West runners-up Viktoria 89 Berlin Oberliga Berlin champions 1. FC Kaiserslautern Oberliga Südwest champions VfR Wormatia Worms Oberliga Südwest runners-up Kickers Offenbach Oberliga Süd champions SSV Reutlingen 05 Oberliga Süd runners-up
Competition
First qualifying round
Replay
Second qualifying round
Group 1
Group 2
Final
ROT-WEISS ESSEN: GK Fritz HerkenrathDF Heinz Wewers DF Willi KöchlingDF Joachim JänischMF Paul JahnelMF Willi GrewerFW August GottschalkFW Bernhard Termath FW Johannes RöhrigFW Helmut RahnFW Franz IslackerManager: Fritz SzepanKAISERSLAUTERN: GK Willi HölzDF Werner BaßlerDF Werner MangoldDF Werner Liebrich DF Werner KohlmeyerMF Otto RenderMF Fritz WalterMF Horst EckelFW Willi Wenzel FW Karl WangerFW Erwin SchefflerManager: Richard Schneider
Sources 1954-55 at Weltfussball.de Germany - Championship 1955 at RSSSF.com German championship 1955 at Fussballdaten.de