Kreisliga Saar


The Kreisliga Saar was the highest association football league in the Territory of the Saar Basin, governed by a League of Nations mandate, and parts of the Bavarian region of Palatinate and the Prussian Rhine Province from 1919 to 1923. The league was disbanded with the introduction of the Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar in 1923.
The league was named after the Saar River.

Overview

Predecessor

From 1907, four regional leagues were formed within the structure of the Southern German football championship, in a move to improve the organisation of football in Southern Germany, these being:
In 1908, a first Westkreis-Liga was established. With the outbreak of the First World War, league football came to a halt and, during the war, games were only played on a limited level.

Post-First World War

With the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, no Westkreis championship was played in 1918-19 but football returned to a more organised system in 1919.
Southern Germany, now without the Alsace and Lorraine regions, the later having been part of the Westkreis and had to be returned to France, was sub-divided into ten Kreisligas, these being:
The new Kreisliga Saar was made up from eight clubs from the Westkreis region. The league winners of the Kreisligas advanced to the Southern championship. This system applied for the 1919-20 and 1920-21 season, with the league being expanded to ten clubs for the later.
In 1921-22, the Kreisliga Saar was split into two groups of eight, increasing the number of tier-one clubs in the region to 16. The two league winners then played a final to determine the Saar champion, which in turn advanced to a Rheinhessen-Saar championship final against the Hessen champion. This "watering down" of football in the region lasted for only one season, in 1922-23, the number of top clubs was reduced to eight clubs in a single division, with a Rheinhessen-Saar final against the Hessen champion once more.
In 1923, a league reform which was decided upon in Darmstadt, Hesse, established the Southern German Bezirksligas which were to replace the Kreisligas. The best four teams each from the Kreisliga Hessen and Saar were admitted to the new Bezirksliga Rheinhessen-Saar. The four clubs from Saar were:
The clubs from the Kreisliga Saar were not particularly successful in this era and none managed to qualify for the German championship. Borussia Neunkirchen did however reach the final of the Southern German Championship in 1922, to lose 2-1 after extra time to FC Wacker München.

Rheinhessen-Saar championship

Played in 1922 and 1923, these were the finals:
Qualified teams and their success:

Placings in the Kreisliga Saar 1919-23