Ice hockey regional league
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| Current season | 2020/21 |
| sport | ice Hockey |
| abbreviation | RL |
| Association | State Ice Sports Associations |
| Country countries |
 Germany
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| Title holder |
North: ECW Sande East: Schönheider Wölfe West: Herford EV South-West: SC Bietigheim-Bissingen 1b Bavaria: TEV Miesbach 
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| ^ Ice hockey league ↓ Landesliga Bayern
Landesliga Thuringia Association League North Rhine-Westphalia State League Baden-Württemberg State League Berlin Association League North State League Saxony Hessen League |
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The Regionalliga is currently the fourth highest ice hockey league in Germany . It is played as the Regionalliga West, North, East and South-West. In Bavaria, the fourth highest league is called the Bayernliga . The regional leagues are organized - sometimes jointly - by the respective state ice sports associations.
Regional leagues have existed in ice hockey since 1965 in different organizational forms, mostly as the third or fourth highest division. In contrast to most other sports in Germany, the regional league in ice hockey is the league below the major league . The regional leagues were organized by the German Ice Hockey Federation (DEB) until 1994, and since then by the state ice sports associations - there are no regional associations in ice hockey.
The group league was from 1961 to 1965 the third highest division in the Federal Republic of Germany , below the Oberliga, and thus the forerunner of the regional league. Group league was also the name of the third-highest division from 1962 to 1965 and the second-highest division in the German Democratic Republic from 1965 to 1970 . This league was dissolved in 1970 without replacement, see ice hockey in the GDR .
Structure of the regional leagues
Regionalliga West
The North Rhine-Westphalia Ice Hockey Association (EHV NRW) organizes the highest amateur league for North Rhine-Westphalia , Hesse , Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland . For the 2009/10 season, the former regional leagues of North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse were merged. The EHV NRW will take over the organization for the 2016/17 season, previously the state ice sports association NRW was responsible for the ice hockey leagues. The first eight teams play in play-offs in best-of-five mode for the championship title and promotion to the Oberliga Nord.
Regionalliga North
The Regionalliga Nord is a league organized by the Lower Saxony State Ice Sports Association as an amateur league for teams from Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein, which determines a team that is eligible for promotion to the Oberliga Nord.
Regional League East
The nine teams play a round and a half (24 games). The four best teams qualify for the play-offs, which are played in the best-of-three mode. The master is qualified for the upper league and is divided into the group south or north, depending on the local situation.
Regionalliga South-West
→ Main article Regionalliga Süd-West
The Regionalliga Süd-West covers the area of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg . The host is the Ice Sports Association of Baden-Württemberg . In recent years, the league has been held under the name Baden-Württembergliga. The master is athletically qualified for the Oberliga Süd.
Bayern League
→ Main article Ice Hockey Bayern League
The 14 teams play a main round (single round). The best eight teams qualify for a dovetailing round with the teams in positions 11 and 12 of the Oberliga Süd. This is played as a promotion round (single round), in which the first two qualify for the top division. The best four Bayern league clubs then play off the Bavarian champions in play-offs.
The teams in ranks 9 to 14 of the Bayernliga main round are dovetailed with the best 10 teams in the Bavarian State League and play a qualifying round in two groups. Places 1 to 3 of each group are qualified for the Bayernliga.
History of the regional league
The group league as a forerunner from 1961 to 1965
For the first time in 1961, the German Ice Hockey Association introduced a league in the Federal Republic of Germany, whose game operations were supraregional but not nationwide. This group league called division was the third highest class after the Bundesliga and the Oberliga . The group league was played in two groups, with the southern group comprising the federal states of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg, the northern group the rest of the federal territory. This division is explained by the higher density of ice hockey clubs in Bavaria and has been used over the years in the regional league, the upper league, the 2nd Bundesliga and in the 1st and 2nd league. The first two of the two groups played in a final round from the group league champions and promoted to the top division. In the four seasons of the group league, this was always a representative of the south, but in 1965 the runner-up EC Deilinghofen also rose because the Bundesliga was increased.
| season | Group league champions | Winner South | Winner North |
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| 1961/62 | EV Pfronten | EV Pfronten | EC Deilinghofen |
| 1962/63 | TSV Holzkirchen | EV Rosenheim | EC Deilinghofen |
| 1963/64 | MEV 1883 Munich | MEV 1883 Munich | EC Deilinghofen |
| 1964/65 | EV Rosenheim | EV Rosenheim | Cologne EK |
Regional league as the third division from 1965 to 1973
In 1965 the group league was replaced by the regional league. In the first season the league was divided into the four preliminary round groups South (Bavaria), Middle (Baden-Württemberg, Hesse), West (North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony) and North (Berlin, Bremen, Hamburg). The best three of each group played the four participants of the final round in the intermediate round groups South / Middle and North / West.
In the 1966/67 season they returned to the old division into north and south. The higher-class league also took over this division. Oberliga and regional league were dovetailed, in that the first four of each regional league group played with the worst four of the corresponding Oberliga group to qualify for the upcoming league season. In addition, the two group winners of the preliminary round played the regional league champions in the first and second leg. For the first time in 1970 a club from the north, the Berliner SC , won the regional championship.
In the 1970/71 season they returned to the regional league round and the play of direct promoters. In addition, a South / West group for clubs from Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate was introduced in 1970. However, this had to be discontinued in 1972 due to a lack of interested clubs. With the introduction of the 2nd Bundesliga and the increase in the Oberliga, which, as the third highest class like the Regionalliga, should have played in two groups up to now, in 1973 all regional leagues were included in the Oberliga.
| season | Regional league champions | south | North | |||
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| south | South / west (center) | west | North | |||
| 1965/66 | Augsburg EV | Augsburg EV | ERV Ravensburg | Cologne EK | Hamburger SC | |
| 1966/67 | ERV Ravensburg | ERV Ravensburg | EC Hanover | |||
| 1967/68 | EV Landsberg | EV Landsberg | Berlin FC Preussen | |||
| 1968/69 | ? | TuS Holzkirchen | ? | |||
| 1969/70 | Berlin ice skating club | EV Regensburg | Düsseldorfer EG 1b | |||
| 1970/71 | Düsseldorfer EG 1b | TSV Straubing | EHC Stuttgart | Düsseldorfer EG 1b | ||
| 1971/72 | Duisburger SC | VER Same | Eintracht Frankfurt | Krefelder EV 1b | ||
| 1972/73 | VER Same | TSV Peiting | Grefrather EC | |||
Regional league as the fourth league from 1973 to 1994
In 1973 the regional league was only played in the north as the fourth division. In the 1974/75 season, the Regionalliga was played in two groups again, and in 1975 an additional group west was introduced for the clubs from North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse. Later the group west was merged with the group north under the name Nord / West and the group south / west (Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Hesse) was reintroduced.
In the 1980s, the regional league was further regionalized. The Regionalliga West was reintroduced in 1984 for clubs from North Rhine-Westphalia and the Regionalliga Mitte was introduced in 1987 for clubs from Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland, while the Regionalliga Süd / West was limited to Baden-Württemberg. As a result, the individual groups were sometimes very small, sometimes they only comprised six teams. Therefore, in a radical reform of the existing five groups in 1992, only two were formed, South and North, each with a nominal strength of 16 teams.
Regional league champions are marked in bold .
2nd league / regional league 1994 to 2002
In the summer of 1994, the league system in ice hockey was completely reformed. Below the new professional league , the German Ice Hockey League , the 1st and 2nd leagues were set up as amateur leagues. The teams of the previous regional league formed the basis of the 2nd league, which, like the previous regional league, played in the groups North and South.
The name Regionalliga was subsequently adopted by the state ice sports associations (LEV) for their highest leagues, first for the fourth-class regional league Hessen / Thuringia organized by the Hessian ice sport association, which later became the regional league Hessen / Rhineland-Palatinate and then the regional league Hessen. The LEV North Rhine-Westphalia only renamed its NRW-Liga in 1997 to Regionalliga NRW. In addition, the regional leagues north and east emerged.
In the late 1990s, the 1994 reform was partially reversed. After the reintroduction of the nationwide 2nd Bundesliga in 1998, the 1st division was renamed the Oberliga again in 1999. Similarly, the 2nd League South was renamed Regionalliga Süd again, while the 2nd League North had been discontinued in 1997. The regional league was again the fourth highest division in Germany, with the RL South for Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony being organized by the DEB, the regional leagues in the north by the LEV.
| season | 2nd division champions | Runner-up | Winner South | Winner North | league |
| 1994/95 | Grefrather EV | Ice hockey in Ulm / Neu-Ulm | EV Dingolfing | Grefrather EV | III |
| 1995/96 | Limburg EG | ERC Ingolstadt | ERC Ingolstadt | Limburg EG | III |
| 1996/97 | SC Bietigheim-Bissingen | Braunlager EHC / Harz | SC Bietigheim-Bissingen | Braunlager EHC / Harz | III |
| 1997/98 | Braunlager EHC / Harz | EV Regensburg | EV Regensburg | Braunlager EHC / Harz | III |
| 1998/99 | EHC Bad Aibling | EC Peiting | - | - | IV |
| season | Champion of the regional league | Winner South | Winner North | league | |
| 1999/00 | Not played out | ESV Kaufbeuren | Herford EC | IV | |
| 2000/01 | - | 1. EV Weiden | SC Mittelrhein Neuwied | IV | |
| 2001/02 | - | EHC Klostersee | KEV Hanover | IV |
Regional leagues since 2002
For the 2002 season, the league, which had lost massive clubs in previous years, was increased by the clubs of the Regionalliga Süd and the latter was dissolved. The Bayern League and the Baden-Württemberg League (later renamed Regionalliga Süd-West ) became the fourth highest league. The reintroduction of the Regionalliga Süd was planned in the partnership agreement of the ice hockey game operating company ESBG, which has been organizing the DEB leagues since 2002, but was never implemented.
In the seasons up to 2010, the regional leagues in the north were interlinked in a variety of ways. In some cases joint finals or promotion rounds of all or individual leagues were played; At times, leagues were also merged, e.g. B. the leagues north and east. From the 2008/09 season, the previous Rhineland-Palatinate League was renamed the Regional League Rhineland-Palatinate.
For the 2009/10 season, the LEV North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse decided to reorganize the league game operations, so that the former Regionalliga Hessen became the Hessenliga and the former Regionalliga NRW became the Regionalliga West.
For the 2010/11 season, the amateur hockey sector will be reformed and the regional leagues in the north will be merged with the major league . The former North and East Regional Leagues became the North and East Upper Leagues, while the majority of the clubs from the North Rhine-Westphalia / Hesse Regional League rose to the new West Upper League.
For the 2010/11 season, the previous Association League North became the Regionalliga Nord again. In the west, the Regionalliga West was filled with corresponding promoters, under which the Regionalliga Rheinland-Pfalz was incorporated. The Regionalliga Ost was dissolved. For the 2011/12 season, the Sachsenliga, which had previously played with clubs from Saxony, Thuringia and Berlin, was renamed Regionalliga Ost.
Web links
- Official website of the Lower Saxony Ice Sports Association
- Official website of the Saxon Ice Sports Association
- Official website of the Berlin Ice Sports Association
- Official website of the Ice Sports Association Baden-Württemberg
- Official website of the Bavarian Ice Sports Association
- Ice Hockey Association NRW eV
See also
| Group League (1961-1965) |
 
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| Regional League (1965–1973) |
1965/66 • 1966/67 • 1967/68 • 1968/69 • 1969/70 • 1970/71 • 1971/72 • 1972/73 |
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| Oberliga (1973-1994) |
1973/74 • 1974/75 • 1975/76 • 1976/77 • 1977/78 • 1978/79 • 1979/80 • 1980/81 • 1981/82 • 1982/83 • 1983/84 • 1984/85 • 1985 / 86 • 1986/87 • 1987/88 • 1988/89 • 1989/90 • 1990/91 • 1991/92 • 1992/93 • 1993/94 |
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| 2nd division (1994-1998) | ||
| 1st division (1998/99) | ||
| Oberliga (since 1999) |
1999/2000 • 2000/01 • 2001/02 • 2002/03 • 2003/04 • 2004/05 • 2005/06 • 2006/07 • 2007/08 • 2008/09 • 2009/10 • 2010/11 • 2011 / 12 • 2012/13 • 2013/14 • 2014/15 • 2015/16 • 2016/17 • 2017/18 • 2018/19 • 2019/20 • 2020/21 |
| Regionalliga (1973-1994) |
1973/74 • 1974/75 • 1975/76 • 1976/77 • 1977/78 • 1978/79 • 1979/80 • 1980/81 • 1981/82 • 1982/83 • 1983/84 • 1984/85 • 1985 / 86 • 1986/87 • 1987/88 • 1988/89 • 1989/90 • 1990/91 • 1991/92 • 1992/93 • 1993/94 |
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| 2nd league / regional league south and regional leagues in the north (1998–2002) |
2nd League South 1998/99 • Regional League 1999/2000 • 2000/01 • 2001/02 |
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| Regional leagues of the state associations (since 2002) |
2002/03 • 2003/04 • 2004/05 • 2005/06 • 2006/07 • 2007/08 • 2008/09 • 2009/10 • 2010/11 • 2011/12 • 2012/13 • 2013/14 • 2014 / 15 • 2015/16 • 2016/17 • 2017/18 • 2018/19 • 2019/20 • 2020/21 |