Regionalliga Südwest (1963-74)

The Regionalliga Südwest was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2nd Bundesliga in 1974. It covered the states of Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz.

Overview

Along with the Regionalliga Südwest went another four Regionalligas, these five formed the second tier of German football until 1974:

*Regionalliga Nord, covering the states of Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg
*Regionalliga West, covering the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen
*Regionalliga Berlin, covering West-Berlin
*Regionalliga Süd, covering the states of Bayern, Hessen and Baden-Württemberg

The new Regionalligas were formed along the borders of the old post-2nd World War Oberligas, not after a balanced regional system. Therefore the Oberligas Berlin and West covered small but populos areas while Nord and Süd covered large areas. Südwest was something of an anachronism, neither large nor populos. It was basically a remainder of the former French occupation zone.

Originally only the winners, later also runners-up of this league were admitted to the promotion play-off to the Bundesliga, which was staged in two groups of origanally four, later five teams each with the winner of each group going up.

The bottom three teams were relegated to the Amateurligas. Below the Regionalliga Südwest were the following Amateurligas:

*Amateurliga Saarland
*Amateurliga Rheinland
*Amateurliga Südwest

The FSV Mainz 05, VfR Wormatia Worms, FK Pirmasens, SV Röchling Völklingen, Südwest Ludwigshafen and TuS Neuendorf all played every one of the eleven seasons of the Regionalliga Südwest.

Disbanding of the Regionalliga Südwest

The league was dissolved in 1974. According to their performance of the last couple of seasons, seven clubs of the Regionalliga went to the new 2nd Bundesliga Süd. The nine remaining clubs were relegated to the Amateurligas.

The teams admitted to the 2nd Bundesliga Süd were:

*Borussia Neunkirchen
*1. FC Saarbrücken
*FC Homburg
*SV Röchling Völklingen
*FSV Mainz 05
*VfR Wormatia Worms
*FK Pirmasens

Relegated clubs:

*to the Amateurliga Saarland: VfB Theley, FC Ensdorf
*to the Amateurliga Rheinland: TuS Neuendorf, Spfr Eisbachtal
*to the Amateurliga Südwest: ASV Landau, Eintracht Kreuznach,SV Alsenborn, Südwest Ludwigshafen, FV Speyer

Re-creation of the Regionalliga

In 1994 the Regionalligas were reintroduced, this time as the third tier of German Football. The teams from the southwest were however integrated into the new Regionalliga West/Südwest with the clubs from Nordrhein-Westfalen. In 2000, when the number of Regionalligas was reduced from four to two, the south western clubs moved to the Regionalliga Süd. In 2008, with the introduction of the 3rd Liga the southwestern clubs will again move, into the new Regionalliga West and again be with the teams from Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Winners and runners-up of the Regionalliga Südwest ["Kicker Almanach" The Football Yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine]

1964 Borussia Neunkirchen FK Pirmasens 1965 1. FC Saarbrücken VfR Wormatia Worms 1966 FK Pirmasens 1. FC Saarbrücken 1967 Borussia Neunkirchen 1. FC Saarbrücken 1968 SV Alsenborn TuS Neuendorf 1969 SV Alsenborn TuS Neuendorf 1970 SV Alsenborn FK Pirmasens 1971 Borussia Neunkirchen FK Pirmasens 1972 Borussia Neunkirchen SV Röchling Völklingen 1973 FSV Mainz 05 SV Röchling Völklingen 1974 Borussia Neunkirchen 1. FC Saarbrücken

Bold denotes team went on to gain promotion to the Bundesliga.

*The Borussia Neunkirchen holds the record for league wins in any of the five Regionalligas, having one Südwest five times.
*The 1. FC Saarbrücken is the only southwest team to have won the old (1965) and new (1996) Regionalliga.

Placings in the Regionalliga Südwest 1963 to 1974

Source:Cite web
url = http://www.f-archiv.de/
title = Regionalliga Südwest
accessdate = 2008-01-07
publisher = Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv

*♦ denotes club played in the Bundesliga.
*"TuRa Ludwigshafen" merged with "Phönix Ludwigshafen" in 1964 to form "Südwest Ludwigshafen".

External links

* [http://www.f-archiv.de/ Das deutsche Fussball Archiv ]
* [http://www.fussballdaten.de/regionalliga/ Regionalligas at Fussballdaten.de]

References