History

At the first event 1985, 14 teams from Hamburg and Lower Saxony took part. Winner was the FC Voran Ohe from Hamburg by a 2-0 final game over the Lueneburger SV, the places 3 and 4 occupied with MSV Hamburg and VfL Lohbruegge also two Hamburg teams. The victory of the Hamburg teams continued 1986 as the VfL Lohbruegge won the tournament through a 1-0 win against Wandsbeker FC. 16 teams from all four North German federal states were already registered here.

After a three-year interruption, there was 1989 the third edition. A premiere was the participation of the Referee Association (RA) Lahti (Lahden Erotuomarikerho) from Finland as the first foreign team. The Finns took fourth place in the final round, among the 24 participating teams, behind the winner MTV Treubund Lueneburg, the RA Lueneburg and the RA Luechow-Dannenberg.

1991 was dominated by political changes in Eastern Europe. Three teams from the former GDR, as well as a team from the USSR Football Referees Association, took part in the fourth tournament. The well-trained FIFA, first-division and second-division referees from the entire Soviet Union, with their president and ex-FIFA referee Eduard Shklovsky at the top, won the tournament confidently. In the high-class final, they beat the RA Noord-Oost Twente (Netherlands) 4-1. Third came the RA Dortmund, 4th Lahden EK from Finland. For the first time the “Norddeutsche Rundfunk (NDR)” send two reports in the radio.

A rare constellation resulted 1993: the team of the title holder no longer existed after the conflict of the USSR. A team of the “Football Referees Association of Russia” took part in the tournament without conceding a goal (!). The final against the RA Dortmund ended with a Russian 1-0 success. In the match for the third place the Finnish team of Keski-Hämeen EK defeated the RA Uelzen 4-0. 30 teams participated in the event. The NDR sent live reports in his sports broadcasts.

Due to his commitments in his own country, the title holder from Russia 1995 unfortunately failed to take part. But it was not without guests from the former USSR, however: with the gratifying support of UEFA’s East European Assistance Bureau, a team of Referees from the Armenian Football Association took part for the first time. The title remained in the neighborhood with the RA Harburg, which won the final with 2-0 against SC Vorwaerts/Wacker 04 Hamburg. Third among 28 participating teams was Lahden EK from Finland before the RA Celle.

The 7th edition of this meanwhile highly regarded and appreciated event now became a “Six Nations Tournament”. In addition to teams from all over Germany, teams from Armenia, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands and Russia participated. The team of the Russian RA could not be surprising as a tournament favorite and only took third place in front of SC Vorwaerts/Wacker 04 Hamburg. In a duel between two neighboring district selection teams, the team of the RA Luechow-Dannenberg beat the colleagues from Salzwedel 2-1 in the final round and took home the victory cup.

1999, the title went back to Hamburg after thirteen years, with SC Vorwaerts/Wacker 04 Hamburg winning 4-1 in the final against the RA Remscheid. With the same result, the Frankonian RA Hassfurt beat their colleagues from Dortmund and reached rank 3. Legendary was the tournament on Saturday, which ended just before the beginning of the games of the second tournament day. Always at the front and at first loudly singing and dancing on the tables: the Referees from the RA Diepholz …!

In the ninth campaign 2001 finally made the referees of the RA Duisburg-North with a clear 3-0 victory in the final match against their colleagues from Dortmund, the title to the Lower Rhine. Third and fourth place went to the two surprising teams of the event: the RA Muenchberg celebrated their 4-3 success after a penalty shootout against the RA Hagen from Westphalia like the world championship title. For the first time, a team of the Referee Association of Vienna, who did not hesitate to travel by train sixteen hours one tour, took part.