3rd Liga

For The Croatian Third League (3. Hrvatska Nogometna Liga), see Treća HNL.

3rd Liga

Countries	Germany
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	2008
Number of teams	20
Levels on pyramid	3
Promotion to	2. Bundesliga
Relegation to	Regionalliga Nord Regionalliga Süd Regionalliga West
Domestic cup(s)	DFB-Pokal
Current champions	VfL Osnabrück
Most championships	VfL Osnabrück, 1. FC Union Berlin (1 title)
2010–11 3rd Liga

The 3rd Liga is the third division of football in Germany. The league started with the beginning of the 2008-09 season, when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third tier football league in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the semi-professional Regionalliga, which became the fourth division and consists of three groups of 18 clubs playing separately.

History

On 8 September 2006, the German Football Association, the DFB, announced the formation of the 3rd Liga. It was originally anticipated that the league's name would be 3. Bundesliga, but the DFB chose 3. Liga instead, reflecting the fact that the league will be directly administered by the DFB, not by the DFL (Deutsche Fußball Liga, English:German Football League) who runs the two Bundesligen^[1]. This system is similar to France's Championnat National or Japan's Japan Football League, where the third tier is a unified semi-professional league directly run by the national governing body.

Set-up

The teams which are not reserve teams among the 20 teams in the league compete for promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga, while the 3 bottom teams are relegated to one of the three Regionalliga: Regionalliga Nord, Regionalliga Süd, Regionalliga West. If, however, a reserve team is playing in the 3rd Liga and the respective first team is relegated to the 3rd Liga, the reserve team will be relegated regardless of its league position.

The first match of the 3rd Liga was played on 25 July 2008 between FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt and Dynamo Dresden at the Steigerwaldstadion in Erfurt. Dynamo Dresden won the match 1-0, with Halil Savran scoring the only goal in the closing stages of the first half.

Qualifying for the 3rd Liga

Original members, 2008-09

At the end of the 2007-08 season, the two best non-reserve teams from each of the two divisions of the Regionalliga were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. The teams ranked 3rd to 10th in both Regionalliga entered the new 3. Liga, joining the four teams relegated from the 2. Bundesliga to form the new 20-team league. Teams finishing 11th or lower in their Regionalliga remained where they were.

On 18 May 2008, at the end of the 2007-08 2. Bundesliga season, four clubs were relegated from the 2. Bundesliga and became charter members of the 3. Liga: Kickers Offenbach, FC Erzgebirge Aue, SC Paderborn 07 & FC Carl Zeiss Jena

On 31 May 2008, at the end of the 2007-08 Regionalliga seasons, clubs placing 3rd through 10th in the Regionalliga Nord and the Regionalliga Süd also qualified for the new 3. Liga.

From the Regionalliga Nord:

• Fortuna Düsseldorf
• 1. FC Union Berlin
• SV Werder Bremen II
• Wuppertaler SV Borussia
• FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt
• Dynamo Dresden
• Kickers Emden
• Eintracht Braunschweig

From the Regionalliga Süd:

• VfB Stuttgart II
• VfR Aalen
• SV Sandhausen
• SpVgg Unterhaching
• Wacker Burghausen
• FC Bayern Munich II
• Jahn Regensburg
• Stuttgarter Kickers

Promotion/Relegation

The winner and runner-up in a given season is automatically promoted to the 2. Liga. The third place team enters a home/away playoff against the 16th placed team of the 2. Liga for the right to enter/stay in the 2. Liga. Teams placing in the bottom three are automatically sent to the Regionalliga.

• Bold denotes team earned promotion.

References

External links (sites in German)

• Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB)
• Kicker.de
• 3rd Liga on Weltfussball.de
• German 3.Liga (www.3liga.com)