Thousands of fans stood outside the stadium in a heavy snowstorm while the match kicked off inside. They knew that there were no tickets left and they wouldn’t be able to watch any of the first ever DFB Cup final. But they still stayed to guess what was happening on the pitch and could celebrate outside if their team managed to score a goal. In the end, it was a historic moment in German football. The first DFB Cup final ever took place on 8th December 1935 in the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf between the two best German teams of the time, 1.FC Nürnberg and Schalke 04.
The competition was formerly known as the Tschammer Pokal, named after its founder Hans von Tschammer. But then he decided that he wanted the cup competition to be like it was in England. “The Cup final at Wembley is always the biggest day of the year for English football. There will now be a second competition for German football clubs that will be of equal importance to winning the title.”
Fußball Woche made a prediction on 7th August 1935. “Everything is finally going to change, even for the spectators, as this new competition offers the most interesting possibilities.
The biggest spectacle imaginable
Now supporters of small teams could finally see their club playing against bigger teams. But only 4000 spectators came to watch 1. FC Nürnberg when they played in Chemnitz in October. Weather was a factor in some places, especially as the finals were played between 1st and 8th December. Things were a lot different back in 1935 but the fascination for traditional clubs hasn’t changed. Fußball Woche wrote: “The biggest spectacle imaginable has been achieved.”
A match between Schalke 04 and 1. FC Nürnberg will always draw a crowd, even if the match is irrelevant. The final should have taken place on 1st December that year, however it was postponed by a week. Therefore they played even later on in winter and the first DFB cup winners would celebrate in the snow.
Nürnberg wanted to get revenge in the 1935 final after two late goals from Fritz Szepan and Ernst Kurozza in the 88th and 89th minutes won Schalke the league in 1934. Schalke won the league again in the summer of 1935 and quickly became DFB Cup favourites. They marched through the competition, scoring 29 goals and beating Ulm 8-0 to claim the record for the biggest win in the first ever DFB Cup competition.
###more###
Thousands of fans stood outside the stadium in a heavy snowstorm while the match kicked off inside. They knew that there were no tickets left and they wouldn’t be able to watch any of the first ever DFB Cup final. But they still stayed to guess what was happening on the pitch and could celebrate outside if their team managed to score a goal. In the end, it was a historic moment in German football. The first DFB Cup final ever took place on 8th December 1935 in the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf between the two best German teams of the time, 1.FC Nürnberg and Schalke 04.
The competition was formerly known as the Tschammer Pokal, named after its founder Hans von Tschammer. But then he decided that he wanted the cup competition to be like it was in England. “The Cup final at Wembley is always the biggest day of the year for English football. There will now be a second competition for German football clubs that will be of equal importance to winning the title.”
Fußball Woche made a prediction on 7th August 1935. “Everything is finally going to change, even for the spectators, as this new competition offers the most interesting possibilities.
The biggest spectacle imaginable
Now supporters of small teams could finally see their club playing against bigger teams. But only 4000 spectators came to watch 1. FC Nürnberg when they played in Chemnitz in October. Weather was a factor in some places, especially as the finals were played between 1st and 8th December. Things were a lot different back in 1935 but the fascination for traditional clubs hasn’t changed. Fußball Woche wrote: “The biggest spectacle imaginable has been achieved.”
A match between Schalke 04 and 1. FC Nürnberg will always draw a crowd, even if the match is irrelevant. The final should have taken place on 1st December that year, however it was postponed by a week. Therefore they played even later on in winter and the first DFB cup winners would celebrate in the snow.
Nürnberg wanted to get revenge in the 1935 final after two late goals from Fritz Szepan and Ernst Kurozza in the 88th and 89th minutes won Schalke the league in 1934. Schalke won the league again in the summer of 1935 and quickly became DFB Cup favourites. They marched through the competition, scoring 29 goals and beating Ulm 8-0 to claim the record for the biggest win in the first ever DFB Cup competition.
###more###
Schalke as favourites
The Nürnberg players certainly didn’t enjoy reading their local newspaper on the morning of the DFB Cup final. The experts were predicting a Schalke win. Lots of Nürnberg fans arrived at the Rheinstadion who didn’t manage to get a ticket beforehand. But 1000 tickets were quickly printed out and the kick off was delayed by ten minutes so that everyone could get into the stadium to watch.
It wasn’t really worth the wait as the 56,000 spectators couldn’t even really see the match because of the heavy snowstorm that lasted at least half an hour. Gußner had a great opportunity to get the opener for Nürnberg in the 3rd minute but he missed from just a few yards out. Schalke meanwhile weren’t playing so well in the heavy snowstorm. Nürnberg’s Abel Uebelein was their key player in the first half, winning a lot of challenges with Ernst Kuzorra. Schalke weren’t pleased that it was goalless at the break. Referee Alfred Birlem blew the whistle to start the second half early because there were still no floodlights and it was beginning to get dark early.
Deflected opening goal
There has been a lot of debate over who scored Nürnberg’s opening goal in the 46th minute. Max Eiberger got a touch on Georg Friedel’s shot before it went in. Max Eiberger is down as first goal scorer in the club’s records, but Georg Friedel has been named as the goal scorer in other sources like kicker . Friedel did manage to get on the scoresheet though as he latched onto Gußner’s parried shot and put the ball into the net in the 85th minute.
The infuriated Schalke players had three good chances to score in the final minutes but they didn’t manage to convert these into goals. The referee blew for the final whistle and Ernst Kuzorra congratulated Nürnberg on the win before Tschammer came onto the pitch to award them the trophy. The celebrations were different to those we have in Berlin today. But despite there being no loud music or confetti, the players were still just as happy to lift the trophy.
Nobody denied that Nürnberg were the deserved winners. Kicker analysed the result and said that “The first DFB Cup final was very memorable. The two best German teams put up a real good fight, but the winners Nürnberg were the better team on the day.
Line-ups in the first DFB Cup final
Nürnberg: Köhl – Billmann, Munkert, Uebelein, Carolin, Oehm, Gußner, Eiberger, Friedel, Schmitt, Spieß
Schalke: Mellange –Bornemann, Schweißfurth, Gellesch, Tibulski, Nattkämper, Kalwitzki, Szepan, Pörtgen, Kuzorra, Urban
###more###
