Football regional league

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Regional league
Regional league logoTemplate: Infobox football competition / maintenance / logo format
Association German Football Association
First edition 4th August 1963
hierarchy 4th league
Teams 18 teams per season
master VfL Wolfsburg II (North)

Chemnitzer FC (Northeast)
FC Viktoria Cologne (West)
SV Waldhof Mannheim (Southwest)
FC Bayern Munich II (Bavaria)

Current season 2019/20
↑ 3rd division (III)

The Regionalliga has been the fourth-highest division in German men's football since the 2008/09 season . It is divided into five leagues of the various regional and state associations, the champions of which play four promoted players in the third division in a promotion round .

From 1963 to 1974 it was the second highest division under the Bundesliga , after which there was no regional league for 20 years. In 1994 it was installed as the third highest division between the 2nd Bundesliga and the major leagues . It was initially played in four (north, northeast, west / southwest and south) and from 2000 in two seasons (north and south). At the beginning of the 2008/09 season it was carried out in three seasons (north, west, south) with the introduction of the 3rd division, the fourth highest division. With the 2012/13 season, five regional leagues were formed as a substructure for the 3rd division.

1963 to 1974 - 2nd division in five regional leagues

Regional football division, 1963–1974

Until 1963, there were four leagues as the top division and the Berlin contract league , whose champions and runners-up played the German champions at the end of the season . As a second division there was a second division in the west, south-west and south , while the state or association leagues followed in the north and in Berlin directly below the major league. In the other three regions these formed the third level.

When the first-class single-track Bundesliga was founded in 1963, five regional leagues ( north , west , south-west and south as well as the Berlin Regionalliga ) were created on the second level . The previous second leagues were omitted. From then on, the two or three bottom of the table of the five regional leagues were relegated to the national or association leagues. The number of people relegated differed from region to region and also varied according to the “sliding scale”.

The regional associations were responsible for the individual regional leagues . For the Regionalliga Nord it was the North German Football Association , for the West the West German Football Association, for the Southwest the Football Regional Association Southwest , for the South the South German Football Association and for the Regionalliga Berlin it was the Association of Berliner Ballspielvereine .

The masters from 1964 to 1974

year North west southwest south Berlin
1964 FC St. Pauli Alemannia Aachen Borussia Neunkirchen KSV Hessen Kassel SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin
1965 Holstein Kiel Borussia Monchengladbach 1. FC Saarbrücken FC Bayern Munich Tennis Borussia Berlin
1966 FC St. Pauli Fortuna Dusseldorf FK Pirmasens 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 Hertha BSC
1967 SV Arminia Hanover Alemannia Aachen Borussia Neunkirchen Kickers Offenbach Hertha BSC
1968 SV Arminia Hanover Bayer 04 Leverkusen SV Alsenborn FC Bayern Hof Hertha BSC
1969 VfL Osnabrück Rot-Weiß Oberhausen SV Alsenborn Karlsruher SC Hertha Zehlendorf
1970 VfL Osnabrück VfL Bochum SV Alsenborn Kickers Offenbach Hertha Zehlendorf
1971 VfL Osnabrück VfL Bochum Borussia Neunkirchen 1. FC Nuremberg SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin
1972 FC St. Pauli Wuppertal SV Borussia Neunkirchen Kickers Offenbach Wacker 04 Berlin
1973 FC St. Pauli Red and white food 1. FSV Mainz 05 SV Darmstadt 98 Blue-White 90 Berlin
1974 Eintracht Braunschweig SG Wattenscheid 09 Borussia Neunkirchen FC Augsburg Tennis Borussia Berlin

Promoted to the Bundesliga

At the end of the season there was a promotion round in two groups of five teams (until 1966 there were two groups of four teams). The two group winners were promoted to the Bundesliga. The five regional league champions and runners-up were qualified for the promotion round (only three runners-up until 1966). The game was played in the mode everyone against everyone in a round trip with the following group winners:

At the end of the 1973/74 season, in addition to the two Bundesliga relegated teams, the 38 best teams from the five regional leagues were grouped into the newly introduced two-pronged 2nd Bundesliga, which started in 1974/75 with a north and south group of 20 teams. The regional leagues were dissolved, the teams that did not qualify for the 2nd Bundesliga became third class. The Oberliga Nord was founded on the third level of the league system in Northern Germany . In the rest of Germany, the existing association leagues and first amateur leagues were still the third division. In 1978, seven more major leagues were established.

Records

* Points according to the 3-point rule .

1994 to 2008 - 3rd division

At the beginning of the 1990s, the ten upper leagues, which formed the previous substructure for the 2nd Bundesliga, were no longer considered to be contemporary. In 1993 the DFB decided to reintroduce the regional leagues as the third-highest division between the 2nd Bundesliga and the upper leagues for the 1994/95 season in order to create an improved substructure with a higher performance density for the professional sector .

1994 to 2000 - regional league in three / four seasons

Regional division, 1994-2000

After each of the five DFB regional associations had their own regional league before the introduction of the two-part 2. Bundesliga in 1974, it was initially decided to split it into three parts with a regional league in the south, one in the west / south-west and one in the north / north-east There were extensive discussions about the latter. In the new federal states in particular, a separate season was advocated. This was justified by the fact that a joint league would cover almost half the area of ​​Germany and, in particular, the expected travel costs would be significantly higher than in a separate league. However, the DFB, the South German and West German Football Associations advocated a division proportional to the number of reported men's teams in the respective regions. Then came the south to 36 percent, west / southwest to 31 percent and north / northeast to 33 percent (19 percent in the north and 14 percent in the northeast). Based on these numbers, the decision to split the regional league into three prevailed.

As an interim solution, a separate regional league relay was created in the north and northeast, which should be combined into one division after two years. This desired merger was rejected again at the DFB Bundestag in October 1995 and there were officially three regional leagues until 2000, of which the Regionalliga North / Northeast played in two groups and at the end of the season played off the champions in two playoffs.

The criteria for qualifying for the newly founded regional league were different for the individual leagues. A qualification was not required for the North German Football Association . The Oberliga Nord, introduced in 1974, was continued in 1994 as Regionalliga Nord .

In the area of ​​the South German Football Association, where the upper leagues of Bavaria , Hesse and Baden-Württemberg were previously the highest amateur leagues , a three-year multiplication evaluation was used as the basis, in which the six best teams in each of the upper leagues were qualified for the regional league. After that, the 1991/92 season counted single, the 1992/93 series double and the 1993/94 round triple.

In the West German Football Association, qualification was based on the final tables of the upper leagues of Westphalia, North Rhine and Southwest after the 1993/94 season. Bayer 04 Leverkusen decided not to send their qualified amateur team to the regional league. Bonner SC took the vacated space . Rot-Weiß Oberhausen then tried to force participation in the regional league in court, but was unsuccessful.

In the Northeast German Football Association , the top ranked teams in the three NOFV leagues qualified after the 1993/94 season. The 1. FC Schwedt abandoned for financial reasons and the 1. FC Markkleeberg went bankrupt. After qualifying games that were scheduled at short notice, the FSV Optik Rathenow moved up as a regional league participant.

As former Bundesliga clubs, the teams were Borussia Neunkirchen , Preußen Münster , Arminia Bielefeld , Alemannia Aachen , Rot-Weiss Essen , Wuppertaler SV (West), SV Darmstadt 98 , Kickers Offenbach , Stuttgarter Kickers (South), Tennis Borussia Berlin (Northeast) and Eintracht Braunschweig (North) qualified. The Bayern Munich , Werder Bremen , the Hamburger SV and SG Wattenscheid 09 were represented at the first Regional season with their amateur teams.

The former European Cup winner 1. FC Magdeburg and the former GDR Cup winner Hallescher FC , the former German champions Freiburg FC and Rot-Weiß Oberhausen as a former Bundesliga team did not qualify for the first regional league season .

The average attendance figures in the first season were quite different in the four regional leagues. The average attendance in the Regionalliga West / Southwest 2657, North 1592, South 1391 and Northeast 1326. The difference between the clubs themselves was even more serious. For example, West / Southwest climber Arminia Bielefeld had an average of 10,424, while SV Edenkoben only had 493 spectators per game.

The master

year North West / Southwest south Northeast
1995 VfB Lübeck Arminia Bielefeld SpVgg Unterhaching FC Carl Zeiss Jena
1996 VfB Oldenburg FC Gütersloh Stuttgart Kickers Tennis Borussia Berlin
1997 Hannover 96 SG Wattenscheid 09 1. FC Nuremberg FC Energie Cottbus
1998 Hannover 96 Rot-Weiß Oberhausen SSV Ulm 1846 Tennis Borussia Berlin
1999 VfL Osnabrück Alemannia Aachen SV Waldhof Mannheim Chemnitzer FC
2000 VfL Osnabrück 1. FC Saarbrücken SSV Reutlingen 05 1. FC Union Berlin

Promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga

The champions of the three seasons North-Northeast, West and South were eligible for promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga. Since the North-Northeast relay played in the two groups North and Northeast, the winners of these groups determined the champions of the North-Northeast relay in two-legged matches. In addition, one of the runner-ups rose. In the first three years, the vice-champion's right of promotion rotated between the seasons (1995: runner-up north-northeast, 1996: runner-up west, 1997: runner-up south). From 1998 to 2000, the fourth climber was played in a relegation of the three runners-up.

Records

2000 to 2008 - regional league in two seasons

Regional division, 2000-2008

After the 1999/2000 season, the four regional leagues were reduced to two seasons (north and south) in order to achieve a higher performance density. Half of all clubs had to relegate to the major leagues.

The game was played with 19 or 18 teams per league, with the first two clubs of each season being promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga and the teams relegated from rank 15 to the top division of their respective association. Theoretically, even the fourth and fifth of a season could move up, as the second teams from professional clubs were basically excluded from promotion. In 2001 it hit the southern runner-up VfB Stuttgart II, in 2004 the southern champion Bayern Munich II. Clubs that had qualified in sports but were not granted a license for the second Bundesliga were also not eligible for promotion.

Assignment to the seasons

Up to and including the 2005/06 season, a geographical allocation of relegated teams from the single-track 2nd Bundesliga made it possible for 19 or even 20 teams to play in a regional league relay in the following season. For example, if three “North” clubs were relegated from the 2nd Bundesliga, the North relay was increased. At the end of such a season, more clubs were relegated to the major leagues to compensate, so that the season then again belonged to 18 clubs.

The following regional allocation applied:

  • Regionalliga, North Season:
Upper leagues north , northeast (season north and south), North Rhine and Westphalia
  • Regionalliga, Season South:
Upper leagues Bavaria , Baden-Württemberg , Southwest and Hesse

Exceptions: Sportfreunde Siegen from Westphalia, FC Carl Zeiss Jena and FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt from Thuringia were assigned to the Regionalliga Süd when the double-track third division was founded. When Erfurt was again relegated to the Regionalliga (2004/05), the club was then assigned to the Northern League, as was Jena after being promoted from the Oberliga.

For the 2006/07 season, a changed regulation was applied for the first time; accordingly, the DFB Presidium decided on the regional league's relay division at the suggestion of the regional league committee before the beginning of each season (§ 55c DFB game rules). This was also the case in the three-track regional league.

The master

year North south
2001 1. FC Union Berlin Karlsruher SC
2002 VfB Lübeck SV Wacker Burghausen
2003 FC Erzgebirge Aue SpVgg Unterhaching
2004 Red and white food FC Bayern Munich (A)
2005 Eintracht Braunschweig Kickers Offenbach
2006 Red and white food FC Augsburg
2007 FC St. Pauli SV labor
2008 Red and white awls FSV Frankfurt

Promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga

With the introduction of the two-track regional league, the champions and runners-up of the two seasons rose directly to the 2nd Bundesliga.

Records

Since 2008 - 4th division

2008 to 2012 - regional league in three seasons

Regional division, 2008–2012
Distribution of teams according to the 2007/08 season

Between the 2nd Bundesliga and the regional league, the 3rd league was added for the 2008/09 season, half of which is made up of clubs from the existing regional leagues North and South. Since then there have been three regional leagues ( 4th division) and ten upper leagues (5th division).

The assignment of the 54 teams to the three regional leagues “West”, “North” and “South” was carried out every year according to geographical and logistical criteria. An even division of the second teams of licensed clubs into the three seasons should be observed. When dividing the three regional leagues for the 2009/10 season, the clubs were largely divided according to their affiliation to the regional associations, only Waldhof Mannheim from the South German Football Association was assigned to the Regionalliga West.

The course for the reform was set at an extraordinary DFB Bundestag on September 8, 2006. The 2007/08 season was intended as a qualifying year for the new divisions. The following clubs qualified for the new regional league at the end of the 2007/08 season:

  • the total of 17 teams from the previous regional league north and south that did not make the leap into the new 3rd division - nine clubs from the regional league north and eight clubs from the regional league south;
  • the five best-placed teams in the Oberliga Nord and the winner of a relegation round between the sixth of the Oberliga Nord and the winners of the leagues of the North German Football Association;
  • the three best-placed teams of the two northeast upper leagues and the winner of the relegation between the two fourth-placed teams in these leagues;
  • the four best teams in each of the major leagues of Hesse, North Rhine, Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg, Southwest and Bavaria;
  • in the event that one of the teams from the regional league does not receive the license, a club from the upper league of the association with the most reported senior teams (first Bavaria, then Baden-Württemberg) moves up.

All athletically qualified clubs must also meet the economic and technical-organizational admission requirements for the regional league. If an applicant does not receive admission, the next eligible club of the respective league relay is qualified for the regional league in his place. The economic and technical-organizational admission criteria also include the requirement that the capacity of the stadiums in the new regional leagues must be over 5000. The coaches must have completed the football teacher training, i. H. An A-trainer license is required to look after a team in the regional league. All teams who want to take part in the relegation round in the north (see above) must also have the regional league license.

The master

year North west south
2009 Holstein Kiel Borussia Dortmund II 1. FC Heidenheim
2010 SV Babelsberg 03 1. FC Saarbrücken VfR Aalen
2011 Chemnitzer FC Prussia Munster SV Darmstadt 98
2012 Hallescher FC Borussia Dortmund II Stuttgart Kickers

Promoted to the 3rd division

The winners of the three seasons rose to the 3rd division. From the 2008/09 season three teams from the regional leagues west and south and four teams from the regional league north were relegated. The relegated teams were each represented by two representatives from the soccer associations North (Schleswig-Holstein-Liga, Oberliga Hamburg, Bremen-Liga, Niedersachsenliga), Nordost (Oberliga Nordost) and West (NRW-Liga), a club from the Southwest German Association (Oberliga Südwest) as well as three teams from the area of ​​the South German Football Association (Bayernliga, Hessenliga, Oberliga Baden-Württemberg).

Records

Since 2012 - five regional leagues

The five regional leagues since 2012/13

For the 2012/13 season , the main responsibility for the regional league changes from the DFB to five league associations. These are the regional associations (RV) of the DFB and the Bavarian state association . Since 2012/13 there has not been a three-track regional league with three seasons in the fourth division level, but five equal, single-track regional leagues. The associations are assigned as follows:

Furthermore, a maximum of seven second teams from DFL clubs may play within a league . Second teams from third division clubs are not permitted.

The regional or national associations of the DFB are responsible for the regional leagues. They can independently determine the league strength and the relegation regulation to the subordinate leagues.

The master

year North Northeast west southwest Bavaria
2013 Holstein Kiel RB Leipzig Sports fanatic Lotte KSV Hessen Kassel TSV 1860 Munich II
2014 VfL Wolfsburg II TSG Neustrelitz SC Fortuna Cologne SG Sonnenhof Großaspach FC Bayern Munich II
2015 Werder Bremen II 1. FC Magdeburg Borussia Mönchengladbach II Kickers Offenbach Würzburger Kickers
2016 VfL Wolfsburg II FSV Zwickau Sports fanatic Lotte SV Waldhof Mannheim SSV Jahn Regensburg
2017 SV Meppen FC Carl Zeiss Jena FC Viktoria Cologne SV Elversberg SpVgg Unterhaching
2018 SC switch Flensburg 08 Energy Cottbus KFC 05 Uerdingen 1. FC Saarbrücken TSV 1860 Munich
2019 VfL Wolfsburg II Chemnitzer FC FC Viktoria Cologne SV Waldhof Mannheim FC Bayern Munich II

Promoted to the 3rd division

By the end of the 2017/18 season, three teams from the regional leagues were promoted to the third division. To determine the promoted team, a promotion round was carried out in which the champions of each regional league took part, as well as the runner-up in the regional league, whose region has the most clubs and members in the DFB (southwest). Three matches were drawn, the winners of which were promoted to the third division after the return leg. The champions and runners-up in the Southwest League did not compete against each other. In 2014, the third-placed 1. FSV Mainz 05 II took part in the promotion round for the southwest because runner-up SC Freiburg II did not apply for a license for the third division. The promotion round was criticized by fans and clubs because the regional league champions were not allowed to be promoted directly.

That is why the DFB Bundestag decided in December 2017 that four teams will be promoted and relegated between the regional league and the third league from the 2018/19 season. Until the planned reduction of the regional league to four seasons, a transitional solution with three direct promoters and only one decision duel was decided for the seasons 2018/19 and 2019/20. The Regionalliga Südwest waived their previous second relegation place, but their champions will be promoted directly in both seasons. In addition, it was determined for the 2018/19 season that the second direct promoted player would come from the Regionalliga Nordost, the third direct promotion spot was drawn in advance from among the other leagues. The lot decided that the Regionalliga West would provide the third promoted team in the 2018/19 season and the Regional Leagues Bavaria and North would determine the fourth promoted team in a return match between their masters. In return, they will automatically receive a direct promotion place in the 2019/20 season, while the champions of the Regional Leagues West and Northeast play the play-off games for the fourth promotion place in the 3rd division.

According to a decision in September 2019, the seasons West and Southwest each received a fixed promotion place for the 2020/21 season, whereas the champions of the remaining three seasons will alternately get the third promotion place and have to play the fourth among themselves. The association justified the fixed places for the squadrons Southwest and West with the fact that "the areas are characterized by metropolitan areas and together comprise more than 50% of the registered men's teams in Germany".

year Master Bavaria Master North Master Northeast Master Southwest Master West
2018/19 Promotion play-off

against master of RL North
(as not drawn for direct promotion)

Promotion play-off

against champions of RL Bayern
(as not drawn for direct promotion)

direct ascent

(Decision of December 8th, 2017)

direct ascent

(Decision of December 8th, 2017)

direct ascent

(Draw on April 27, 2018)

2019/20 direct ascent

(as in the play-off last year)

direct ascent

(as in the play-off last year)

Promotion play-off

against champions of RL West
(since not in the play-off last year)

direct ascent

(Decision of December 8th, 2017)

Promotion play-off

against champions of RL Nordost
(as not in the play-off last year)

2020/21 Promotion play-off

against master of RL North
(as not drawn for direct promotion)

Promotion play-off

against champions of RL Bayern
(as not drawn for direct promotion)

direct ascent

(Draw on March 6, 2020)

direct ascent

(Decision of 09/27/2019)

direct ascent

(Decision of 09/27/2019)

2021/22 direct ascent

(Draw on March 6, 2020)

Promotion play-off

against champions of RL Northeast
(as not drawn for direct promotion)

Promotion play-off

against master of RL North
(as not drawn for direct promotion)

direct ascent

(Decision of 09/27/2019)

direct ascent

(Decision of 09/27/2019)

2022/23 Promotion play-off

against champions of RL Northeast
(as not drawn for direct promotion)

direct ascent

(Draw on March 6, 2020)

Promotion play-off

against champions of RL Bayern
(as not drawn for direct promotion)

direct ascent

(Decision of 09/27/2019)

direct ascent

(Decision of 09/27/2019)

The climbers:

Records

Discussions about the reduction to four regional leagues since 2017

In order to enable all regional league champions to be promoted directly in the future, the 96th DFB Bundestag decided in December 2017 to reduce the number of regional leagues from five to four and commissioned a working group ("Ad-hoc-AG") headed by DFB Vice President Peter Frymuth to work out a concept by the DFB Bundestag in September 2019.

After the ad hoc working group had not succeeded in adopting a majority model with four regional leagues by November 2018, it finally presented a concept according to which the regional associations should themselves take care of an exact division for a four-track regional league. The cornerstones of this concept provide that for the area of ​​the previous regional leagues west and south-west and for the area of ​​the regional leagues north, north-east and Bavaria, two relays or promotion places to the third division are planned. However, a proposal for implementation should be drawn up by the regional associations themselves.

In the following discussions, the Bavarian State Association and the Northeast Regional Association in particular insisted on maintaining their previous leagues and brought up an increase in the third division to 22 or 24 clubs with five relegated teams or even a two-pronged third division. The clubs in the 3rd division then revoked their consent to a fourth relegation and protested on the 17th matchday of the 2018/19 season by letting the first minute of their game pass without playing. There were also protests by fans from the 3rd division.

At its meeting at the beginning of December 2018, the DFB Presidium supported the concept of the Ad-hoc-AG and commissioned the affected state and regional associations together with the clubs from the 3rd division and those of the regional leagues North, Northeast until April 15, 2019 and Bavaria to develop a concrete proposal for implementation. A merger of the North, Northeast and Bavaria leagues into just two leagues would have de facto meant a division of the Northeast relay. Because of the economic disadvantages for the northeast clubs affected, the commissioned clubs and associations decided at a conference on March 19, 2019, unanimously (with 47 votes in favor and 4 abstentions), the DFB Bundestag to keep the three regional leagues with only two promoted players propose. The exact structure of the promotion regulation was decided at the DFB Bundestag on September 27, 2019.

It was confirmed with a two-thirds majority that none of the five seasons would be dissolved. Furthermore, four teams are to be promoted and the champions of the squadrons West and Southwest, whose national associations together provide a good half of all male teams registered in Germany, each receive fixed promotion places. Every year one of the three masters of the remaining seasons is assigned the third fixed promotion place on the rotation principle, while the remaining two masters have to play for the last place. A central demand of the participating third division clubs from the 2018/19 season, to provide a fourth relegated only with a reduction to four regional leagues, was again not met.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rules of the game. (PDF; 886 kB) § 42 Regulations for the national games organized by the DFB. In: dfb.de. Deutscher Fußball-Bund , p. 45 , accessed on November 9, 2013 .
  2. ↑ DFB-Bundestag resolves reform of the divisions. In: dfb.de. German Football Association, October 22, 2010, accessed on May 16, 2015 .
  3. ↑ kicker special edition Bundesliga 1993/94: The kicker map - here is played , p. 12.
  4. ↑ kicker special edition Bundesliga 1994/95: Regionalliga - The youngest child learns to walk , p. 164.
  5. ↑ Official notices. (PDF; 276 kB) In: dfb.de. German Football Association, September 30, 2006, archived from the original on August 1, 2014 ; Retrieved February 19, 2016 .
  6. ^ Dpa : Preußen Münster rises to the 3rd soccer league. (No longer available online.) In: muensterschezeitung.de. Münstersche Zeitung , May 6, 2011, formerly in the original ; Retrieved September 27, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.muensterschezeitung.de  
  7. ↑ DFB-Bundestag resolves reform of the divisions. In: dfb.de. German Football Association, October 22, 2010, accessed on February 19, 2015 .
  8. ↑ a b Regulations for the division reform adopted. German Football Association , accessed on February 19, 2016 .
  9. ↑ See the complete list at Regionalliga Bayern: Application deadline for third and state division teams expired - SV Viktoria Aschaffenburg included! In: Mittelkreis.de. Mittelkreis UG, April 3, 2012, accessed on September 27, 2013 .
  10. ↑ Structure of the regional leagues from the 2012/2013 season. In: dfb.de. German Football Association, accessed on February 23, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Mode: This is how the ascent works. In: kicker.de. Kicker-Sportmagazin , May 25, 2013, accessed on May 29, 2013 .
  12. ↑ a b Change of promotion regulation in the regional league decided. In: DFB website . German Football Association , December 8, 2017, accessed December 8, 2017 .
  13. ↑ Draw for promotion games: Saarbrücken against Bayern champions. In: DFB website . German Football Association , April 27, 2018, accessed on April 27, 2018 .
  14. ↑ a b DFB resolves new promotion regulations for the regional league , liga3-online.de, accessed on September 28, 2019
  15. ^ Promotion from regional league to 3rd league: Questions and Answers , dfb.de, accessed on March 7, 2020
  16. ↑ Promotion to the 3rd division: Ad-hoc-AG submits proposal to DFB Presidium. In: dfb.de. German Football Association , November 26, 2018, accessed on December 9, 2018 .
  17. ↑ Modus: working group was dissolved - regional league reform is about to fail. In: kicker.de. Kicker-Sportmagazin , November 26, 2018, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  18. ↑ Promotion to the 3rd league: The goal remains four regional leagues. In: dfb.de. German Football Association , November 30, 2018, accessed on December 2, 2018 .
  19. ^ Regional league reform - messed up situation. In: sportschau.de. ARD , December 6, 2018, accessed December 9, 2018 .
  20. ↑ Presidium supports the further procedure for promotion regulation. In: dfb.de. German Football Association , December 7, 2018, accessed on December 9, 2018 .
  21. ↑ Regionalliga: Next reform attempt in March , liga3-online.de, accessed on February 13, 2019
  22. ↑ Football Regionalliga - Northeast should remain. In: sportschau.de. ARD , March 19, 2019, accessed on March 19, 2019 .
  23. ↑ DFB Bundestag votes on regional league reform , liga3-online.de, accessed on September 25, 2019