Regionalliga

A (, plural ) is a regional league in numerous sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues.

The term is often associated with the German football league system where it is the fourth tier or one of the three divisions of Regionalliga in Austria, which represent the third tier in that country. Until 1974, ''Regionalliga'' was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was reintroduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new Germany-wide in 2008, it became the fourth tier. While all of the clubs in the top three divisions of German football are professional, the has a mixture of professional and semi-professional clubs.

History of the ''Regionalligen'' in Germany

1963–1974

From the introduction of the in 1963 until the formation of the in 1974, there were five , forming the second tier of German Football:

* (covering the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg)
* (covering the state of North Rhine-Westphalia)
* (covering West Berlin)
* (covering the states of Rheinland-Palatinate and Saarland)
* (covering the states of Bavaria, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg)

The champions and runners-up of the respective divisions played out two promotion spots to the in two groups after the end of the season.

In 1974, the two , and became the second tier of German Football and the ceased existing for the next 20 years.

1994–2000

In 1994, the were re-introduced, this time as the third tier of German Football. There were initially four :

* (covering the states of Bavaria, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg)
* (covering the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia)
* (covering the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg)
* (covering the states of Brandenburg, Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony; i.e. the former GDR and the city of West Berlin)

Between 1994 and 2000, promotion to the was regulated without much continuity. It was a problematic rule, as becoming champion of a division did not automatically mean promotion for that team. The champions of the South and West/Southwest divisions were automatically promoted, however, along with one of the two runners-up. The champions of the North and Northeast divisions had a play-off to decide who would get the fourth promotion spot. This rule was justified because there are more clubs in the southern part of Germany than the north.

In 1998, the promotion rule was changed again: the winner of the play-off between the North and Northeast division champions was promoted, while the loser faced the runners-up from the West/Southwest and South divisions in another play-off for the remaining promotion spot.

2000–2008

In 2000 the number of was reduced to two:

* (covering northern Germany)
* (covering southern Germany)

The new divisional alignment was not bound to certain states any more so teams were moved between the divisions in order to balance club numbers. This led to some clubs in the Southern division being geographically further north than some northern clubs, and vice versa.

The champions and the runners-up of both divisions were promoted to the .

2008–2012

In 2008, the were demoted to become the fourth tier of football in Germany after the introduction of a new nationwide . However, there was an expansion to three divisions:

* (covering the states of Brandenburg, Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, Saxony, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg)
* (covering the states of Bavaria, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg)
* (covering the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia)

"Covering" meant that the single divisions were annually re-aligned to geographic location by a DFB committee in order to have 18 teams assigned to each division every year. This led to teams assigned to a division other than their geographical one. An example for this is BV Cloppenburg, who was assigned to the Western division for the 2008–09 season despite being located in Lower Saxony.

2012–present

In October 2010, yet another reform of the was decided upon, with the number of leagues expanding to five and beginning play in the 2012–13 season. Under this new format, the old would be re-established and the new and would be created. The would take clubs from the southern portion of the and also everything from the outside of Bavaria. It was also decided to limit the number of reserve teams per to seven.

The five league champions and the runners-up of the play-off for the three promotion spots in a home-and-away series. The new leagues consist of up to 22 clubs in their inaugural seasons but were reduced to between 16 and 18 clubs. The are not administered by the DFB but rather by the regional football associations. In regards to reserve teams, initially only seven were permitted per league, however, this rule may be subject to change under certain circumstances. Reserve sides of teams are not permitted in the .

The reorganisation of the so soon after the last changes in 2008 became necessary because of a large number of insolvencies. These were caused by a lack of media interest in the leagues combined with large expenses and infrastructure demands. The five from 2012 are:
* (covering the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg)
* (covering the states of Brandenburg, Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony)
* (covering the state of North Rhine-Westphalia)
* (covering the states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg)
* (covering the state of Bavaria)

Some regional football associations also made changes to the league system below the in their area. From the 2012–13 season, the Bavarian Football Association

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