The 1988–89 DDR-Oberliga was the 40th season of the DDR-Oberliga, the first tier of league football in East Germany.
The league was contested by fourteen teams. Dynamo Dresden won the championship, the club's seventh out of eight East German championships.[3][4]
Torsten Gütschow of Dynamo Dresden was the league's top scorer with 17 goals,[5] while Andreas Trautmann of Dynamo Dresden took out the seasons East German Footballer of the year award.[6]
On the strength of the 1988–89 title Dynamo Dresden qualified for the 1989–90 European Cup where the club was knocked out by AEK Athens in the first round. Second-placed club BFC Dynamo qualified for the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup as the seasons FDGB-Pokal winners and was knocked out by AS Monaco in the second round. Third-placed FC Karl-Marx-Stadt qualified for the 1989–90 UEFA Cup where it was knocked out by Juventus in the third round while fourth-placed F.C. Hansa Rostock lost to FC Baník Ostrava in the first round.[7]
The 1988–89 season saw two newly promoted clubs, BSG Energie Cottbus and BSG Sachsenring Zwickau.[8][9]