Regionalliga West (1963-74)

The Regionalliga West was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the west of Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2nd Bundesliga in 1974. It covered the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, the most populos state of Germany.

Overview

The league started out in 1963 with 20 teams in the league, which was reduced to 18 the year after.

It was formed from the eleven clubs of the Oberliga West which did not get admitted to the new Bundesliga and from the top nine clubs of the 2nd Oberliga West.The Regionalliga West was as such a continuation of the Oberliga West under a different name and a tier lower.

Along with the Regionalliga West 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 Süd, covering the state of Bayern, Hessen and Baden-Württemberg
*Regionalliga Berlin, covering West-Berlin
*Regionalliga Südwest, covering the states of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland

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.

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

The bottom teams in a varying amount were relegated to the Verbandsligas. Below the Regionalliga West were the following Verbandsligas:

* Verbandsliga Niederrhein
* Verbandsliga Mittelrhein
* Verbandsliga Westfalen 1
* Verbandsliga Westfalen 2

The Schwarz-Weiß Essen is the only club to have played in all eleven seasons of the Regionalliga West.

Disbanding of the Regionalliga West

The league was dissolved in 1974. According to their performance of the last couple of seasons, 11 clubs of the Regionalliga went to the new 2nd Bundesliga Nord. The seven remaining clubs were relegated to the Amateurligas.

The teams admitted to the 2nd Bundesliga Nord were:

*SG Wattenscheid 09
*Rot-Weiss Oberhausen
*Bayer Uerdingen
*1. FC Mülheim
*Preußen Münster
*Borussia Dortmund
*Alemannia Aachen
*Schwarz-Weiss Essen
*DJK Gütersloh
*SpVgg Erkenschwick
*Arminia Bielefeld

The following teams were relegated to the Amateurligas:

*to Amateurliga Westfalen Nordost: Arminia Gütersloh, Eintracht Gelsenkirchen
*to Amateurliga Westfalen Südwest: Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid, Sportfreunde Siegen, Westfalia Herne
*to Amateurliga Mittelrhein: Viktoria Köln
*to Amateurliga Niederrhein: Union Solingen

Re-formation of the Regionalliga West

In 1994 the Regionalligas were re-established, after 20 years, this time as the third tier of German Football. The new Regionalliga West/Südwest was a merger of the two old Regionalligas Südwest and West. In 2000 this league was disbanded again and it's clubs spread over the Regionalligas Süd and Nord.

In 2008, the Regionalliga West will reform again, covering the same territory as the Regionalliga West/Südwest did but now called West only. It will then be the fourth tier of football in Germany.

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

1964 Alemannia Aachen Wuppertaler SV 1965 Borussia Mönchengladbach Alemannia Aachen 1966 Fortuna Düsseldorf Rot-Weiss Essen 1967 Alemannia Aachen Schwarz-Weiss Essen 1968 Bayer Leverkusen Rot-Weiss Essen 1969 Rot-Weiss Oberhausen Rot-Weiss Essen 1970 VfL Bochum Arminia Bielefeld 1971 VfL Bochum Fortuna Düsseldorf 1972 Wuppertaler SV Rot-Weiss Essen 1973 Rot-Weiss Essen Fortuna Köln 1974 SG Wattenscheid 09 Rot-Weiss Oberhausen

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

The Alemannia Aachen (1964, 1967, 1999), SG Wattenscheid 09 (1974, 1997), Rot-Weiss Oberhausen (1969, 1998) and Rot-Weiss Essen (1973, 2004, 2006) all have won the old and the new Regionalliga.

Placings in the Regionalliga West 1963 to 1974

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

*♦ denotes club played in the Bundesliga.
*"Duisburger SV" and "Duisburg 48/99" merged in 1964 to form "Eintracht Duisburg".
*In 1973, "Eintracht Gelsenkirchen" merged with "STV Horst-Emscher", calling itself "STV Eintracht Gelsenkirchen" until 1978, then "STV Horst-Emscher" again.

External links

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

References