Hannover 96 seasons

This is a list of seasons played by Hannover 96 in German and European football, from their entry into the Südkreisliga to the present day.
The club were champions in 1937-38 and 1953-54.

Notes

* The Südkreisliga was a localised division within the Northern German system. The winners would have to compete against other North German league winners to determine the North German representative at the national championship. Despite their 4 local league titles, Hannover 96 never managed to make it through to the national championship in this period.

* Prior to the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963-64, the regional champions would meet in a championship tournament to crown the national champions. Hannover 96 lost out in these in the following seasons: 1934-35, 1939-40, 1940-41, 1948-49; Their two victories in 1937-38 (4-3 v. FC Schalke 04) and 1953-54 (5-1 v. 1. FC Kaiserslautern) made them German champions.

* Early in the 1948-49 season, Hannover 96 won an appeal against their relegation of the previous season, as Holstein Kiel - who had narrowly survived at their expense - had fielded an illegal player. The club were awarded their place back in the top flight for the next season. Upon this, Hannover 96 immediately ended their league campaign (after 3 games completed) for 1948-49 and only played friendlies for the remainder of the season.

* Hannover 96's application to enter the Bundesliga in its inaugural year of 1963-64 was turned down, and so they were moved to the newly created Regionalliga North, a second tier division.

* Their promotion to the Bundesliga the following season was via a playoff league involving teams from all 6 areas of the Regionalliga.

* For the 1991/92 season, the 2.Bundesliga was split into north and south divisions as it integrated the new clubs from the former East Germany.

* Promotion from the modern Regionalliga North relied upon winning a playoff against the North-East champions. In 1996-97, Hannover 96 lost in this (1-3 v. Energie Cottbus) and thus remained in the Regionalliga, but in 1997-98 they were victorious (2-2 v. Tennis Borussia Berlin - 3-1 on penalties) and so gained promotion.

* Entry into the DFB Cup only became automatic for all league clubs with the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963-64. In the period from the foundation of the DFB Cup in 1953 until this point, only the winners of the regional cup competitions, along with the national league champions and national amateur champions were entered. Hannover 96's appearance in 1954-55 was via their league championship success in the previous season.

* Seasons prior to 1995-96 are using the old points system of 2 points for a win; from 1995-96 onward is the present system with 3 points for a win.