Bukovina Championship

Bukovina Championship

Organising body	Bukovina Championship Federation
Founded	1908
First season	1918–19
Folded	1940
Country	Austria-Hungary & Romania
Feeder to	Divizia A (Romanian 1st League) since 1921–22
Last champions	Jahn Cernăuți (4th title)
Most championships	Polonia Cernăuți (5 titles)

The Bukovina Championship (German: Bukowina-Meisterschaft) was a football championship played in Duchy of Bukovina until 1918 and after World War I in Bukovina region, in the north east of Romania. Since the 1921–22 edition the winner qualified to Divizia A knock-out competition to determinate the champions of Romania.

Format

1908–1914, 1918–1919 Bukovina Regional Championship (Austro-Hungary)
1920–1922: Bukovina Regional Championship (Romania)
1922–1932: Bukovina Championship League 1 (regional championship within the Romanian Championship)
1932–1940: Cernăuți County Championship League 1 (regional championship with the right to participate in the national divisions of the Romanian Championship)

History

The first football matches in Bukovina and Transcarpathia (Historical Maramures) took place between May and August 1901.

The first football match in Bukovina, which ended with a score of 7–0, took place on May 12, 1901 in Chernivtsi, at the stadium near the Prut River (the current Malva Stadium). The victory was achieved by a team founded by students of Chernivtsi University on the basis of the university's sports gymnastics section (according to some researchers, this team is believed to have become the ancestor of the Yan club). The goals in that historic match were scored by: Y. Topa – 3, T. Spivak – 2, L. Mihajlov and Z. Stern – 1 each.

In the autumn of 1903, German students from Chernivtsi formed their own football team Jahn Czernowitz, which was officially registered and documented as a German sports society and which for many years became the emblematic club of Bukovina football. This football club became the first football club in Bukovina.

In 1907, in Chernivtsi, the Polish community in the city formed the Sarmatia Czerniowce club (in Polish Sarmatia Czerniowce), then known as "Polonia",

In 1909, Maccabi Czernowitz (in German Sport- und Turnverein Makkabi Czernowitz, in Hebrew transliterated Moadon HaKaduregel Maccabi Tsernowiț) appeared, which became the most successful club in the Bukovina championship with 5 titles. In the same year, the Romanian community founded at the end of 1909 — RFK (Rumanischer Fußballklub) Czernowitz., after 1918 under the name "Dragoș Vodă Cernăuți".

The Bukovina Championship was held in Chernivtsi between (1907–1914), and then in the interwar period it would bear the name of the Chernivtsi district championship category I (1920–1930), and between 1930–1932 (the last two seasons in the district system) it was called Liga Est - Seria Cernăuți.

With the coming to power of Romania, in 1919 the regional championship of Bukovina was launched, which became an official tournament a year later, in 1920. In the first three years, the national football season system was: "spring-autumn", after which the most traditional for European football associations was applied: "autumn-spring". The first champion title was won by the team "Maccabi" (Cernăuți).

In 1940, the tournament ceased to exist because Bukovina was occupied by Soviet troops. The last champion was Jahn Cernăuți. During the German-Soviet War, Romania occupied Bukovina again and there were attempts to restore championship, but the only club that was revived was "Dragoș Vode" (in the 1942–43 season it participated in the Romanian Cup).

Winners

List of Bukovina Championship Winners

Year	Winners	Runners-up	Qualified for	Ref
1918–19	Polonia Cernăuți	Maccabi Cernăuți	none
1919–20	Maccabi Cernăuți	unknown	none
1920–21	Polonia Cernăuți	Jahn Cernăuți	none
1921–22	Polonia Cernăuți	Jahn Cernăuți	1921–22 Divizia A
1922–23	Polonia Cernăuți	Maccabi Cernăuți	1922–23 Divizia A
1923–24	Jahn Cernăuți	Maccabi Cernăuți	1923–24 Divizia A
1924–25	Jahn Cernăuți	Maccabi Cernăuți	1924–25 Divizia A
1925–26	Hakoah Cernăuți	Maccabi Cernăuți	1925–26 Divizia A
1926–27	Maccabi Cernăuți	Jahn Cernăuți	1926–27 Divizia A
1927–28	Polonia Cernăuți	Maccabi Cernăuți	1927–28 Divizia A
1928–29	Dragoș Vodă Cernăuți	Hakoah Cernăuți	1928–29 Divizia A
1929–30	Dragoș Vodă Cernăuți	Jahn Cernăuți	1929–30 Divizia A
1930–31	Maccabi Cernăuți	Jahn Cernăuți	1930–31 Divizia A
1931–32	Maccabi Cernăuți	Jahn Cernăuți	1931–32 Divizia A
1932–33	Dragoș Vodă Cernăuți	Jahn Cernăuți	Qualified for 1932–33 Divizia A Play-off
1933–34	Jahn Cernăuți	Dovbuș Cernăuți	1934–35 Divizia B (Seria V) (first season of the second tier)
1934–35	Dragoș Vodă Cernăuți	Maccabi Cernăuți	1935–36 Divizia B (Seria V)
1935–36	Dovbuș Cernăuți	Muncitorul Cernăuți	1936–37 Divizia C (East League)
1936–37	Muncitorul Cernăuți	CFR Cernăuți	1937–38 Divizia C (East League)
1937–38	unknown	unknown	none
1938–39	Muncitorul Cernăuți	unknown	1939–40 Divizia B (Serie IV)
1939–40	Jahn Cernăuți	unknown	none
1940	not played anymore because of Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina on 28 June 1940

Performances

Performances by club

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Years won
Polonia Cernăuți	5	–	1918–19, 1920–21, 1921–22, 1922–23, 1927–28
Maccabi Cernăuți	4	7	1919–20, 1926–27, 1930–31, 1931–32
Jahn Cernăuți	4	7	1923–24, 1924–25, 1933–34, 1939–40
Dragoș Vodă Cernăuți	4	–	1928–29, 1929–30, 1932–33, 1934–35
Muncitorul Cernăuți	2	1	1936–37, 1938–39
Hakoah Cernăuți	1	1	1925–26
Dovbuș Cernăuți	1	1	1935–36
CFR Cernăuți	–	1	–

See also

• Divizia A
• Cupa României

Bibliography

• Korzhevsky Vasyl — „Cronica fotbalului bucovinean. 1902–1992”