Kreisliga Nordmain

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:

• Ostkreis-Liga, covering Bavaria
• Nordkreis-Liga, covering Hesse
• Südkreis-Liga, covering Württemberg, Baden and Alsace
• Westkreis-Liga, covering the Palatinate, Lorraine and the southern Rhine Province

In 1908, a first Nordkreis-Liga (English: Northern District League) was established, consisting of ten clubs and playing a home-and-away season.^[1] 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.

With the collapse of the German Empire in 1918, no Nordkreis championship was played in 1918-19 but football returned to a more organised system in 1919.

Southern Germany, now without the Alsace region, which had to be returned to France, was sub-divided into ten Kreisligas, these being:

• Kreisliga Hessen
• Kreisliga Nordbayern
• Kreisliga Nordmain
• Kreisliga Odenwald
• Kreisliga Pfalz
• Kreisliga Saar
• Kreisliga Südbayern
• Kreisliga Südmain
• Kreisliga Südwest
• Kreisliga Württemberg

The clubs of the former Nordkreis-Liga were split into three regional competitions, Nordmain, Südmain and Hessen, each with ten clubs.^[2] The three league winners advanced to the Southern championship. This system applied for the 1919–20 and 1920–21 season, except that Nordmain had eleven clubs in 1920–21.^[3]

In 1921–22, the Kreisliga Nordmain 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 Nordmain champion, which in turn advanced to a Main championship final against the Südmain champion. The Hessen champion was not part of this series but rather played a Rhinehesse/Saar championship.^[4] 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 Main final against the Südmain champion once more.^[5]

In 1923, a league reform which was decided upon in Darmstadt, Hesse, established the Southern German Bezirksligas which were to replace the Kreisligas.^[6] The best four teams each from the Südmain and Nordmain were admitted to the new Bezirksliga Main. The four clubs from Nordmain were:

• FSV Frankfurt
• Helvetia Frankfurt
• Eintracht Frankfurt
• FC Hanau 93

The clubs from the Kreisliga Nordmain were not particularly successful in this era and none managed to qualify for the German championship.

Played in 1922 and 1923, these were the finals:

• 1922:
  • Nordmain final: Germania 94 Frankfurt - Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 / 2-2
  • Main final: Germania 94 Frankfurt - VfL Neu-Isenburg 1-0 / 0-3 / 4-2
• 1923:
  • Main final: FSV Frankfurt - Kickers Offenbach 0-1 / 7-2 / 2-1

Qualified teams and their success:

• 1920:
  • Frankfurter FV, Group stage
• 1921:
  • Eintracht Frankfurt, Group stage
• 1922:
  • Germania 94 Frankfurt, Semi-finals
• 1923:
  • FSV Frankfurt, Group stage

Season	Champions	Runner-Up
1919-20	Frankfurter FV	FSV Frankfurt
1920-21	Eintracht Frankfurt	Germania 94 Frankfurt
1921-22	Germania 94 Frankfurt	Eintracht Frankfurt
1922-23	FSV Frankfurt	Helvetia Frankfurt