The 1963–64 Bundesliga season was the inaugural season for a single division highest tier of football in West Germany. It began on 24 August 1963 and ended on 9 May 1964. The first goal was scored by Friedhelm Konietzka for Borussia Dortmund in their game against Werder Bremen. The championship was won by 1. FC Köln. The first teams to be relegated were Preußen Münster and 1. FC Saarbrücken.
Competition modus Every team played two games against each other team, one at home and one away. Teams received two points for a win and one point for a draw. If two or more teams were tied on points, places were determined by goal average. The team with the most points were crowned champions while the two teams with the fewest points were relegated to their respective Regionalliga divisions.
Teams
Sixteen teams were chosen from all Oberliga teams on both competitive and infrastructural aspects. The West and South divisions supplied five teams each, three clubs came from the North, while the Southwest provided two participants. The final member was chosen from the Oberliga Berlin.
The selection of teams for the inaugural Bundesliga season was controversial. Alemannia Aachen and Kickers Offenbach believed that they should have been chosen, due to their superior record over division rivals over the previous twelve seasons. They were not selected due to their relatively poorer performance in the seasons immediately preceding the start of the Bundesliga.
Club Location Oberliga Ground Capacity Borussia Dortmund Dortmund Oberliga West Stadion Rote Erde 30,000 Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweig Oberliga North Eintracht-Stadion 38,000 Eintracht Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main Oberliga South Waldstadion 87,000 Hamburger SV Hamburg Oberliga North Volksparkstadion 80,000 Hertha BSC Berlin Oberliga Berlin Olympiastadion 100,000 Kaiserslautern Oberliga Southwest Stadion Betzenberg 42,000 Karlsruher SC Karlsruhe Oberliga South Wildparkstadion 50,000 Cologne Oberliga West Müngersdorfer Stadion 76,000 Meidericher SV Duisburg Oberliga West Wedaustadion 38,500 Munich Oberliga South Stadion an der Grünwalder Straße 51,794 Nuremberg Oberliga South Städtisches Stadion 64,238 Preußen Münster Münster Oberliga West Preußen-Stadion 45,000 Saarbrücken Oberliga Southwest Ludwigspark 40,000 Gelsenkirchen Oberliga West Glückauf-Kampfbahn 35,000 Stuttgart Oberliga South Neckarstadion 53,000 Werder Bremen Bremen Oberliga North Weserstadion 32,000
League table
Results
Top goalscorers 30 goals Uwe Seeler (Hamburger SV)
20 goals Friedhelm Konietzka (Borussia Dortmund)
19 goals Rudolf Brunnenmeier (1860 Munich)
18 goals Wilhelm Huberts (Eintracht Frankfurt) Klaus Matischak (FC Schalke 04)
16 goals Lothar Emmerich (Borussia Dortmund) Heinz Strehl (1. FC Nürnberg) Karl-Heinz Thielen (1. FC Köln)
15 goals Christian Müller (1. FC Köln) Dieter Höller (VfB Stuttgart) Gert Dörfel (Hamburger SV)
Champion squad 1. FC Köln Goalkeepers: Fritz Ewert (26); Anton Schumacher (4). Defenders: Leo Wilden (29 / 1); Anton Regh (29); Fritz Pott (27 / 1); Wolfgang Weber (27 / 1); Matthias Hemmersbach (17). Midfielders: Hans Sturm (30 / 13); Wolfgang Overath (30 / 9); Helmut Benthaus (27 / 1); Hans Schäfer (22 / 12); Wolfgang Weber (17 / 3). Forwards: Karl-Heinz Thielen (25 / 16); Christian Müller (22 / 15); Heinz Hornig (24 / 7); Karl-Heinz Ripkens (1). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
Manager: Georg Knöpfle.
On the roster but have not played in a league game: Fritz Breuer; Jürgen Rumor; Georg Stollenwerk.
Attendances
VfB Stuttgart drew the highest average home attendance in the 1963-64 edition of the Bundesliga.
References
External links DFB archive, 1963–64 season Sebastian Stolz. The Bundesliga: a true success story. www.bundesliga.com. 2 June 2009