Sports associations (East Germany)

[3] The sports associations SV Dynamo and ASV Vortwärts received a special position within the DTSB and were allowed to retain their statutes.

With participation of the FDGB the existing Sportgemeinschaften were replaced by newly created Betriebssportgemeinschaft (BSG) (German pronunciation: [bəˈtri:psˌˈspɔʁtˌˈɡɛmɛiːnʃaft]) in production and trade companies.

The so-called Trägerbetriebe (supporting companies) would take over tasks of financing and logistics for their respective BSGs, with the union chapter responsible for the day-to-day management.

This was done by organizing internal competitions within the central associations and through influencing athletes who move between individual BSGs.

Among the largest and most powerful BSGs was Wismut Aue, Stahl Riesa, Chemie Leipzig and Motor/Sachsenring Zwickau.

Chemie Leipzig were the only BSG to win the East German football championship after the creation of the sports clubs in 1954.

After German reunification and the collapse of many Volkseigener Betrieb companies the organizational and financial basis of most BSGs vanished.

A sports association is often being held in the wrong idea, as soon as peoples from noncommunist states learned about this matter.

The next problem was, although used over decades: The word "Sportvereinigung" can still not being found in German dictionaries and cannot be translated into English outright.