Gauliga Ostmark
 |
|
| Country |
 Nazi Germany
|
|---|---|
| Countries | |
| Gau (from 1938) | |
| Founded | 1938 |
| Folded | 1945 |
| Replaced by | |
| Level on pyramid | Level 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | Tschammerpokal |
| Last champions |
First Vienna (1943–44) |
The Gauliga Ostmark, renamed Gauliga Donau-Alpenland in 1941, was the highest football league in Austria after its annexation by Germany in 1938. Shortly after the occupation, the Nazis reorganised the administrative regions in Austria, and the seven Gaue Carinthia, Niederdonau, Oberdonau, Salzburg, Styria, Vienna and Tyrol-Vorarlberg replaced the country of Austria. From 1941, the northern-most region of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Drava Banovina, became part of the Gaue Carinthia and Styria.
The Gauliga Ostmark was introduced by the Nazi Sports Office in 1938, after Austria's annexation, to replace the previously existing national league (German:Nationalliga) in the occupied country. The former country of Austria was renamed Ostmark (English:Eastern March) and became part of Germany until 1945. The renaming of Austria to Ostmark was carried out to eradicate all recognition of the country's former independence from Germany. To take matters further, the FK Austria Wien was also renamed in April 1938, to SC Ostmark Wien. This step however was revoked two months later and the club remained one of the few, if not only, institutions to be permitted to carry the former country's name.
Unlike the professional Austrian Nationalliga, the new Gauliga was supposed to be strictly an amateur league.
The new league consisted of six clubs from the old Austrian first division, all based in Vienna and the champion of the second-tier Vienna league (German:Wiener Liga). Additionally, the three champions of the regional leagues of Niederdonau, Oberdonau and Styria were also admitted to the new Gauliga. As such, it was only the second time in the history of Austrian football for regional clubs to take part in the premier competition of the country. Previously, this level had only been open to clubs from Vienna but, in 1937, a national league had been formed with non-Vienna clubs in it for the first time.
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