This ticket is the only one surviving from the first major football championship to be held in Germany. This event marked the beginning of organised national football in Germany, albeit in a fashion that can only be described as enthusiastically chaotic. At the time, football in Germany was still in its infancy and regional leagues were the norm. The Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB), founded in 1900, had only recently decided it was time to crown a national champion. So, they came up with a straightforward plan which was to take the champions of various regional football associations and have them compete in a knockout tournament. Well, that’s what their decadent plan was and what could possibly go wrong?
Only six teams actually entered: VfB Leipzig (Central Germany), DFC Prag (Bohemia – not in Germany, but they were part of the DFB), Karlsruher FV (Southwest), Britannia Berlin (Berlin-Brandenburg), Altonaer FC 93 (Northwest), and 1. FC Pforzheim (Southern Germany). Several other qualified teams either couldn’t afford to travel or simply forgot to show up, it feels slightly sub-optimal for the organisers. The final match was played on 31 May 1903 in Altona, now a part of Hamburg, between VfB Leipzig and DFC Prag. DFC Prag were based in what is now the Czech Republic, but since Bohemia was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and DFB membership was open to clubs across German-speaking Europe, they were allowed in. The final was played in front of around 2,000 spectators, which wasn’t exactly what they were getting at Wembley. VfB Leipzig won 7–2, becoming the first German football champions. Their player Heinrich Riso scored two goals and earned minor celebrity status, at least within the very niche world of 1900s Saxon football.
Karlsruher FV lodged an official complaint that they hadn’t been told about their semifinal which is highly sub-optimal. They were meant to be playing in Leipzig, but Karlsruhe received a telegram apparently from the German Football Association telling them that their match had been cancelled. The telegram was about as genuine as a politicans’ promises and they got disqualified.
The trophy was a silver championship shield, which Leipzig proudly took home, probably on a very slow train knowing Deutsche Bahn. This slightly farcical but pioneering tournament laid the groundwork for what would become one of Europe’s most prestigious football traditions. The German championship continued in a knockout format until the Bundesliga was created in 1963, bringing league football into a modern, more reliably scheduled age. Anyway, I digress, it’s quite impressive there’s only one ticket surviving and it’s found it forever home here.