In the 1890s, the fledgling modern soccer spread to neighboring Germany in the footsteps of the English. 1903 saw the establishment of the German Championship as the predecessor of the league, and before the Bundesliga was established, the German Championship was the crowning glory of German soccer.
The 1922 German Championship is one of the most memorable tournaments in the history of soccer. In that tournament, the team aiming for a third consecutive title and the newcomer Hamburg team met in the final, and jointly offered the "immortal final" in the history of German soccer: two rounds of 232 minutes could not decide the winner, and finally tied for the title.
Before the 1922 German Championship, Nuremberg had already won the tournament two years in a row: in 1920 they beat their opponents 2-0 in the final to take the first-ever title, and the following year they defended their title by sweeping the blue-and-white FC Berlin 5-0. The following year, they defended their title with a 5-0 win over the blue-and-white FC Berlin, and for the third year in a row, they reached the final under Hungarian coach Quisner (one of the founding fathers of Brazilian soccer), and this time, they were still aiming for the title.
The other team to reach the final was Hamburg, the old German team later known as the "King of the North" was a small team whose only honor was winning the "North German Championship". This is the first time in their 34 years of existence that they have made it to the final of a national competition, and against their two-time champions, Hamburg will be looking to beat their rivals by a small margin.
With such an atmosphere, the matchup between the two teams attracted considerable attention from fans.
On June 18, 1922, as many as 30,000 fans came to the Deutsche Stadium in Berlin to watch the final.
In those days when the 235 formation was popular, the two teams didn't disappoint their fans, contributing a great battle against the clock. Hans Reif scored the first goal for Hamburg in the first half, but Nuremberg scored twice in the next 10 minutes and Hamburg was in trouble.The 1-2 scoreline lasted until the 85th minute, when Hamburg's hero stepped up and Hans Flor equalized the score! The game went into extra time, but neither team scored again.
In an era where penalties were not yet available to decide the winner, the two teams had to opt for a rematch on a later date, and the German FA were happy to see that happen, however, subsequent developments took them by surprise.
A little over a month later, on August 6, the two teams played a rematch in Leipzig. The match was even more dramatic, as Nürnberg had a man sent off in the first 18 minutes (in those days there were no red or yellow cards, it was all verbal punishment by the referee). Nürnberg, playing with one man less, scored first, with Heinrich scoring in the 48th minute. But then Hamburg equalized in the 69th minute.
The 1-1 scoreline was again maintained until the end of the 90 minutes, and once again the two teams went into extra time. As in the first final, in the 112th minute of overtime, Nürnberg was again sent off with one man, and with the two who had previously left the field with injuries, they were playing with only seven men on the field. According to the rules, a minimum of eight men are required to be on the field, and the referee blew for a stoppage of play at that point.
This is the first time in the history of the German Championship that this has happened and the German FA is hurting.
Originally, the German FA intended to award the title to the outnumbered Hamburg team, but the match was not decided, so the German FA finally made a "fair" decision: Nuremberg and Hamburg were declared tied for the title! But no one was to be awarded the trophy.
And so, after two "monumental finals", the two teams became the first and only tied champions in the history of soccer. Maybe it's embarrassing, or maybe it's just disdain, but neither team's official website lists the 1922 German Championship in their honor roll. So we can actually say that neither of them won the tournament.
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