The 1963 German football championship was the culmination of the football season in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1962–63. Borussia Dortmund were crowned champions for the third time after a group stage and a final, having previously won the championship in 1956 and 1957.^[1]

On the strength of this title, the club participated in the 1963–64 European Cup, where Borussia lost to F.C. Internazionale Milano in the semi-finals.

Runners-up 1. FC Köln made its third appearance in the national title game, having won the previous years championship and lost in 1960.

The format used to determine the German champion was similar to the one used in the 1962 season. Nine clubs qualified for the tournament, with the runners-up of South and North having to play a qualifying match. The remaining eight clubs then played a home-and-away round in two groups of four, with the two group winners entering the final. In the previous year, a single round had been played in the group stages because of the 1962 FIFA World Cup, where Germany participated in, to reduce the schedule.

The 1963 edition marked the last year, where the German championship was decided in a final. From 1963 onwards, the championship would go to the new Bundesliga champion.

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified through the 1962–63 Oberliga season:

Competition

Qualifying round

1. FC Nürnberg v Werder Bremen

18 May 1963	1. FC Nürnberg	2–1	Werder Bremen	Ludwigshafen
	Reisch 17', 51' (pen.)		Schütz 37' (pen.)	Stadium: Südweststadion Attendance: 58,000 Referee: Hensel (Oberhausen)

Group 1

1. FC Nürnberg v 1. FC Köln

25 May 1963	1. FC Nürnberg	3–3	1. FC Köln	Nürnberg
	Reisch 9' Strehl 36', 45'		Sturm 4' Hemmersbach 14' Hornig 14'	Stadium: Club-Stadion im Zabo Attendance: 41,000 Referee: Ott (Rheinbrohl)

1. FC Kaiserslautern v Hertha BSC

25 May 1963	1. FC Kaiserslautern	1–1	Hertha BSC	Ludwigshafen
	Meier 59'		Lange 57'	Stadium: Südweststadion Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Schörnig (Düsseldorf)

1. FC Köln v 1. FC Kaiserslautern

29 May 1963	1. FC Köln	8–2	1. FC Kaiserslautern	Cologne
	Sturm 16' Schäfer 37' Müller 51', 73' Benthaus 68' Hornig 70' Regh 75' Thielen 83'		Reitgaßl 2' Neumann 6'	Stadium: Müngersdorfer Stadion Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Kreitlein (Stuttgart)

Hertha BSC v 1. FC Nürnberg

29 May 1963	Hertha BSC	0–2	1. FC Nürnberg	Berlin
			Dachlauer 32' Strehl 79'	Stadium: Olympiastadion Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Fritz (Ludwigshafen)

1. FC Kaiserslautern v 1. FC Nürnberg

1 June 1963	1. FC Kaiserslautern	2–2	1. FC Nürnberg	Ludwigshafen
	Reitgaßl 47' Settelmeyer 49'		Flachenecker 66', 77'	Stadium: Südweststadion Attendance: 32,000 Referee: Schulenburg (Hamburg)

Hertha BSC v 1. FC Köln

1 June 1963	Hertha BSC	3–6	1. FC Köln	Berlin
	Waclawiak 13' Altendorff 58' (pen.), 65'		Regh 1' Schäfer 19' Müller 39', 77' Thielen 47', 75'	Stadium: Olympiastadion Attendance: 37,000 Referee: Handwerker (Ketsch)

1. FC Nürnberg v 1. FC Kaiserslautern

8 June 1963	1. FC Nürnberg	5–1	1. FC Kaiserslautern	Nuremberg
	Wild 59', 65' Morlock 67' Dachlauer 83' Reisch 90'		Pulter 17'	Stadium: Club-Stadion im Zabo Attendance: 30,000 Referee: Thier (Gelsenkirchen)

1. FC Köln v Hertha BSC

8 June 1963	1. FC Köln	5–1	Hertha BSC	Cologne
	Müller 23', 50', 73', 90' Sturm 88'		Lange 60'	Stadium: Müngersdorfer Stadion Attendance: 35,000 Referee: Sparing (Kassel)

1. FC Nürnberg v Hertha BSC

15 June 1963	1. FC Nürnberg	5–0	Hertha BSC	Nuremberg
	Morlock 20', 57' Wild 45' Haseneder 55', 65'			Stadium: Club-Stadion im Zabo Attendance: 16,000 Referee: Deuschel (Ludwigshafen)

1. FC Kaiserslautern v 1. FC Köln

15 June 1963	1. FC Kaiserslautern	1–1	1. FC Köln	Ludwigshafen
	Neumann 78'		Regh 30'	Stadium: Südweststadion Attendance: 22,000 Referee: Kandlbinder (Regensburg)

1. FC Köln v 1. FC Nürnberg

22 June 1963	1. FC Köln	6–2	1. FC Nürnberg	Cologne
	Müller 5' Schäfer 8' Thielen 14', 43', 77' Sturm 40' (pen.)		Wild 63', 86'	Stadium: Müngersdorfer Stadion Attendance: 58,000 Referee: Schulenburg (Hamburg)

Hertha BSC v 1. FC Kaiserslautern

22 June 1963	Hertha BSC	3–0	1. FC Kaiserslautern	Berlin
	Faeder 35', 75' Altendorff 55'			Stadium: Olympiastadion Attendance: 10,000 Referee: Schmidt (Waldbröl)

Group 2

TSV 1860 Munich v Borussia Dortmund

25 May 1963	TSV 1860 Munich	3–2	Borussia Dortmund	Munich
	Brunnenmeier 7', 86' Küppers 82'		Wosab 23' Konietzka 50'	Stadium: Stadion an der Grünwalder Straße Attendance: 45,000 Referee: Zimmermann (Wolfsburg)

Borussia Neunkirchen v Hamburger SV

25 May 1963	Borussia Neunkirchen	3–0	Hamburger SV	Saarbrücken
	Pidancet 17' May 78' Melcher 90'			Stadium: Ludwigspark Attendance: 40,000 Referee: Fischer (Augsburg)

Hamburger SV v TSV 1860 Munich

29 May 1963	Hamburger SV	3–0	TSV 1860 Munich	Hamburg
	Wulf 4' Dörfel 48' Seeler 84'			Stadium: Volksparkstadion Attendance: 58,000 Referee: Malka (Herten)

Final

29 June 1963

Borussia Dortmund	3 – 1	1. FC Köln
Kurrat 9' Wosab 57' Schmidt 65'		Schnellinger 73'

Neckarstadion, Stuttgart

Attendance: 75,000

Referee: K.Tschenscher

BORUSSIA DORTMUND: GK 1 Bernhard Wessel DF 2 Wolfgang Paul DF 3 Gerd Cyliax DF 4 Wilhelm Burgsmüller DF 5 Helmut Bracht MF 6 Reinhold Wosab MF 7 Alfred Schmidt MF 8 Dieter Kurrat MF 9 Lothar Geisler FW 10 Jürgen Schütz FW 11 Friedhelm Konietzka Manager: Hermann Eppenhoff

1. FC KÖLN: GK 1 Fritz Ewert DF 2 Leo Wilden DF 3 Karl-Heinz Schnellinger DF 4 Anton Regh DF 5 Fritz Pott MF 6 Hans Sturm MF 7 Helmut Benthaus FW 8 Karl-Heinz Thielen FW 9 Hans Schäfer FW 10 Karl-Heinz Ripkens FW 11 Heinz Hornig Manager: Zlatko Čajkovski