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Saarland national football team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Saarland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Association | Saarländischer Fußball-Bund | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most caps | Waldemar Philippi (18) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top scorer | Herbert Binkert, Herbert Martin (6) |
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| FIFA code | SAA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| First international | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Saarland 5 - 3 Switzerland B  (Saarbrücken, Saar; 22 November 1950)  Norway 2 - 3 Saarland (Oslo, Norway; 24 June 1953) Last International  Netherlands 3 - 2 Saarland (Amsterdam, Netherlands; 6 June 1956) |
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| Biggest win | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Switzerland B 2 - 5 Saarland (Bern, Switzerland; 15 September 1951) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Saarland 1 - 7 Uruguay  (Saarbrücken, Saar; 5 June 1954) |
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The Saarland national football team was the association football team representing the German state of the Saarland from 1950 to 1956 during the French occupation following World War II. As France opposed a membership of the Saarland in the Federal Republic of Germany until 1956, they administered it separately from the rest of Germany as the Saar protectorate.
As the local population did not want to join France, separate organisations were founded, like in 1950 a NOC that led to an appearance of Saar at the 1952 Summer Olympics. Also, considering themselves not an independent nation different from Germany, the football team was not designated as a "national team", and was more generally referred to as a "selection" (German: Auswahl) or some similar term.
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Due to post-war partition, Saarland was one of three German states, along with the Federal Republic of Germany (aka West Germany until 1990) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). The Saarländischer Fußballbund (SFB) was founded on 25 July 1948 in Sulzbach, with Willy Koch as first chairman. The clubs of the Saarland played in the local Ehrenliga for three seasons from 1948 to 1951, with the exception of the strong 1. FC Saarbrücken club, which played 1948/49 as guests in the French Ligue 2 where they were known as FC Sarrebruck. They easily finished atop that division in that year but were not permitted promotion to Ligue 1, and also not accepted as regular participator in Ligue 2. Not interested in being part of the weak Ehrenliga they established a short-lived invitational tournament that attracted a number of top teams.
On 17 July 1949, the members of the SFB declined a proposal to apply for membership in the French Football Federation by a vote of 609:299 (55 abstentions). Led by new president Hermann Neuberger since 14 May 1950, the SFB became part of FIFA on 12 June 1950, three months before the German Football Association DFB was reinstated, and two years before the East German association was accepted.
The Saarland team was made up largely of footballers from 1. FC Saarbrücken and was buttressed by players from SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken and Borussia Neunkirchen, with occasional representation from clubs including SV St. Ingbert 1945, FC 1912 Ensdorf, and ASC Dudweiler.
The team played only 19 games, 10 of these against "B" squads, but did participate in the 1954 World Cup qualifiers, finishing ahead of Norway in their group by defeating them at home. Prior to the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, on June 5, they hosted a game against defending World Champion Uruguay, losing 1-7. Other "A" team opponents in friendlies were Yugoslavia (1-5), the Netherlands (1-2, 2-3) and Switzerland (1-1).
Following a plebiscite in 1955, the Saarland became part of the Federal Republic of Germany with effect on 1 January 1957. The SFB ended its separate FIFA membership and became part of the DFB as the SFV (de: Saarländischer Fußballverband). Coach Helmut Schön, who had managed the Saarland team since 1952, went on to coach the successful German national team in the 1960s and 1970s. Hermann Neuberger, a native of the Saarland, proposed the foundation of the Bundesliga in 1962, organized the Football World Cup 1974, and served as president of the DFB from 1975 until his death in 1992.
The only time that the Saarland entered the World Cup was for the 1954 event. They were drawn in Group 1 alongside the West Germany based DFB team and Norway, in a triangular series. In the opening round in summer 1953, they won their only competitive away match, beating Norway 3-2 in Oslo after trailing 0-2, and with only 10 effective players, after an early substitute due to injury, and Theodor Puff staying on the field with a broken fibula. Thus they still topped the group after the other Germans drew their game in Oslo. The Saarland were emphatically beaten 3-0 by fellow Germans in Stuttgart and could only manage a 0-0 draw at home against Norway. Both German teams were placed joint first until West Germany beat Norway 5-1, putting an end to Norwegian hopes. The remaining inter-German match, to be played after a four month winter hiatus, would decide which one of the German teams should advance to the tournament in Switzerland.
The Saarland, which had already secured second in the group ahead of Norway, needed a win at home to finish first, yet lost 3-1. Unbeaten Germany topped the final ranking, went to Switzerland and won the 1954 World Cup there. German coach Sepp Herberger would have capped Kurt Clemens for Germany, but he was ineligible like all others who had played international games for Saarland.
This was the Saarland's only separate entry in the World Cup as the Saarland, its players, coaches and staff could join Germany in time to assist in the defence of the World Cup in 1958.
| Date | Venue | Home | Result | Guest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 24, 1953 | Oslo | Norway |
2 - 3 | Saarland |
| August 19, 1953 | Oslo | Norway |
1 - 1 |  Germany |
| October 11, 1953 | Stuttgart | Germany |
3 - 0 | Saarland |
| November 8, 1953 | Saarbrücken | Saarland |
0 - 0 | Norway |
| November 22, 1953 | Hamburg | Germany |
5 - 1 | Norway |
| March 28, 1954 | Saarbrücken | Saarland |
1 - 3 | Germany |
| Rank | Team | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Germany |
7 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 3 |
| 2 | Saarland |
3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 3 | Norway |
2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
The Saarland, having just been separated from Germany, did not have a national anthem of its own, and so the first international football fixture (1950 vs. Switzerland) was the reason to establish "Ich weiß, wo ein liebliches, freundliches Tal" as the anthem used in such events.
