[4] In the following season, the last completed one during the war, the German championship was played with thirty one clubs, expanded through a combination of territorial expansion of Nazi Germany and the sub-dividing of the Gauligas in later years.

In 1943 defending champions Schalke was knocked out in the quarter-finals by Holstein Kiel, thereby ending the clubs quest for a twelfth consecutive semi-finals appearance.

[6] Dresdner SC became the last club to be awarded the Viktoria, the annual trophy for the German champions from 1903 to 1944.

The trophy disappeared during the final stages of the war, did not resurface until after the German reunification and was put on display at the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt until 2015, when it was moved to the new Deutsches Fußballmuseum in Dortmund.

[4][8] The teams qualified through the 1942–43 Gauliga season:[4] Holstein Kiel, SpVgg Wilhelmshaven, Kickers Offenbach and Westende Hamborn received a bye for the first round.