The 1942 German football championship, the 35th edition of the competition, was won by Schalke 04, the club's sixth championship, won by defeating First Vienna FC in the final. It marked the third and last occasion of a club from Vienna (German: Wien) in the final, Rapid Wien having won the competition in the previous season while Admira Wien had made a losing appearance in the 1939 final.(West) Germany -List of champions rsssf.org, accessed: 26 December 2015 It was the last time that Schalke was awarded the Viktoria, the annual trophy for the German champions from 1903 to 1944 as the trophy disappeared during the final stages of the Second World War.POKALE AUF REISEN: VIKTORIA UND CO. WANDERN INS FUSSBALLMUSEUM DFB website, accessed: 27 December 2015
Schalke's Fritz Szepan was the 1942 championships top scorer with eight goals.
The 1942 championship marked the last highlight of the golden era of Schalke 04 which had reached the semi-finals of each edition of the national championship from 1932 to 1942 and won the competition in 1934, 1935, 1937, 1939, 1940 and 1942 while losing the final in 1933, 1938 and 1941. By appearing in the 1942 final Schalke also equaled Hertha BSC's record of six consecutive final appearances which the latter had set from 1926 to 1931. Schalke would however not win another German championship until 1958.FC Schalke 04 » Steckbrief Weltfussball.de – FC Schalke 04 honours, accessed: 26 December 2015
The twenty-five 1941–42 Gauliga champions, five more than in the previous season,kicker Allmanach 1990, page: 243-245 competed in a single-leg knock out competition to determine the national champion.German championship 1942 rsssf.org, accessed: 26 December 2015 In the following season, the German championship was played with twenty nine clubs. From there it gradually expanded further through a combination of territorial expansion of Nazi Germany and the sub-dividing of the Gauligas in later years, reaching a strength of thirty-one in its last completed season, 1943–44.
Qualified teams The teams qualified through the 1941–42 Gauliga season: Club Qualified from SV Waldhof Mannheim Gauliga Baden FC Schweinfurt 05 Gauliga Bayern Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg HUS Marienwerder Gauliga Danzig-Westpreußen SG SS Straßburg Gauliga Elsaß LSV Boelcke Krakau Gauliga GeneralgouvernementKickers Offenbach Gauliga Hessen-Nassau Borussia Fulda Gauliga Kurhessen SV Dessau 05 Gauliga Mitte VfL 99 Köln Gauliga Mittelrhein FV Stadt Düdelingen Gauliga MosellandSportfreunde Hamborn Gauliga NiederrheinWerder Bremen Gauliga Niedersachsen SV Breslau 02 Gauliga Niederschlesien Eimsbütteler TV Gauliga Nordmark Germania Königshütte Gauliga Oberschlesien First Vienna Gauliga Ostmark VfB Königsberg Gauliga Ostpreußen LSV Pütnitz Gauliga Pommern SC Planitz Gauliga Sachsen LSV Olmütz Gauliga Sudetenland Polizei Litzmannstadt Gauliga WarthelandSchalke 04 Gauliga Westfalen1. FC Kaiserslautern Gauliga WestmarkStuttgarter Kickers Gauliga Württemberg
Competition
Qualifying round
|align="center" style="background:#ddffdd" colspan=3|10 May 1942German championship 1942 – Qualifying Weltfussball.de, accessed: 26 December 2015
Replay
|align="center" style="background:#ddffdd" colspan=3|17 May 1942
Round of 16
|align="center" style="background:#ddffdd" colspan=3|24 May 1942German championship 1942 – Round of sixteen Weltfussball.de, accessed: 26 December 2015
Quarter-finals
|align="center" style="background:#ddffdd" colspan=3|7 June 1942German championship 1942 – Quarter finals Weltfussball.de, accessed: 26 December 2015
Semi-finals
|align="center" style="background:#ddffdd" colspan=3|21 June 1942German championship 1942 – Semifinals Weltfussball.de, accessed: 26 December 2015
Third place play-off
Final
FC GELSENKIRCHEN-SCHALKE 04: GK Heinz Flotho DF Heinz Hinz DF Otto Schweisfurth MF Hans Bornemann MF Otto Tibulski MF Herbert Burdenski FW Ernst Kalwitzki FW Fritz Szepan FW Hermann Eppenhoff FW Ernst Kuzorra FW Adolf UrbanManager: Otto FaistVIENNA: GK Stefan Ploc DF Otto Kaller DF Willibald Schmaus MF Vitus Kubicka MF Ernst Sabeditsch MF Franz Jaburek FW Karl Bortoli FW Karl Decker FW Franz Holeschofski FW Karl Lechner FW Franz ErdlManager: Fritz Gschweidl
References
Sources kicker Allmanach 1990, by kicker, page 164 & 177 - German championship
External links German Championship 1941–42 at weltfussball.de German Championship 1942 at RSSSF