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
William, the German Crown Prince
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.[1]
The trophy had an inscription engraved which it still bears today:
"Seine Kaiserliche und Königliche Hoheit Wilhelm, Kronprinz des Deutschen Reiches und von Preußen stiftete im Jahre 1908 diesen Pokal als Wanderpreis für Fußball-Wettspiele zwischen den repräsentativen Mannschaften der Landesverbände des Deutschen Fußball-Bundes"
"His Imperial and Royal Highness William, Crown Prince of the German Empire and Prussia donated this trophy in 1908 as a reward for football competitions between the teams of the regional associations of the German Football Association"
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.[1]
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:
Year
Winner
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:
Year
Winner
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.
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.
