Landesliga Bayern

In the Bavarian football league system, the Landesliga Bayern is the second hightest level, below the Fußball-Bayernliga and organised in three regional divisions. The current Landesligas were formed in 1963, when the Fußball-Bundesliga was established. From 2012, when the Regionalliga Bayern will be established, the Landesliga will expand to five divisions.

Previous to that, from 1945 to 1950, the Landesliga Bayern existed as a tier-two league below the Oberliga Süd.

Overview

Landesliga Bayern 1945 to 1950

From 1945 to 1950, the Oberliga Bayern was called Landesliga Bayern. It was then the second tier of Southern German Football.^[1]

The league was established after the Second World War, consisting of nine clubs, with the league winner promoted to the Oberliga Süd. After its first season, 1945-46, it expanded to two divisions, north and south, with eleven clubs each. At the end of season, the two league champions played for the Bavarian title and Oberliga promotion. In 1947-48, each division had 13 clubs.^[2]

In its last two seasons, 1948-49 and 1949-50, the league returned to a single division format. In 1948-49, it consisted of 16 clubs with the top two teams earning promotion. In 1949-50, 14 clubs were in the league and the best five teams earned entry to the newly formed 2nd Oberliga Süd, which became the second tier in Southern Germany. The remaining nine clubs plus seven promoted teams formed the new Amateurliga Bayern, now the third tier.^[3]

Alongside the Landesliga Bayern, four other regional Landesligas existed as the second tier below the Oberliga Süd, these being:

• Landesliga Hessen
• Landesliga Nordbaden
• Landesliga Südbaden
• Landesliga Württemberg

Current leagues

The winners of the three Landesligas are automatically promoted to the Oberliga. The runners-up face a relegation play-off with the team of the Oberliga that is placed just above the relegation zone, usually the 15th placed team, for a final promotion spot. Since the start of the promotion play-offs in 1981, Landesliga Süd has won the extra spot 17 times, Landesliga Mitte 8 times and Landesliga Nord only 5 times. In 1985, 1994, 1996 and 2003 additional spots were available on top of the usual four.

The German word Landesliga can be pretty literally translated as State League.

The three Landesligas cover the following areas:

• Landesliga Bayern-Süd : Schwaben and Oberbayern
• Landesliga Bayern-Mitte : Oberpfalz, Mittelfranken and Niederbayern
• Landesliga Bayern-Nord : Unterfranken and Oberfranken

Below the Landesligas there is the seven Bezirksoberligas, covering the above mentioned seven Bezirke. The winners of those gain promotion, the runners-up face a promotion play-off for a number of promotion spot which vary from season to season.

Only four teams in Bavaria have never dropped down to Landesliga level, these being FC Bayern Munich, TSV 1860 München, 1. FC Nuremberg and FC Augsburg, with the SpVgg Fürth, now SpVgg Greuther Fürth, being by far the most prominent club to have played in any of the three Landesligas, having three German championships to their name (1914, 1926, 1929).

Since 1980, the reserve teams of Landesliga clubs were permitted to enter the league system. Previous to that, they had to compete in separate reserve leagues, with only teams in the Bayernliga and above being permitted to enter their reserve teams in league football.^[4]

Future leagues

The Bavarian football federation has decided on drastic changes to the league system from 2012 onwards. With the introduction of the Regionalliga Bayern from 2012-13, it plans to place two Bayernligas, north and south, below the new league as the new fifth tier of the German league system. Below those, five Landesligas instead of the existing three would be set, which would be geographically divided to limit travel and increase the number of local derbies.^[5]

The five new leagues will be:^[6]

• Landesliga Bayern-Nordost
• Landesliga Bayern-Nordwest
• Landesliga Bayern-Mitte
• Landesliga Bayern-Südost
• Landesliga Bayern-Südwest

The clubs in these leagues will be made up from Landesliga clubs who failed to qualify for the Bayernliga, a set amount of Bezirksoberliga clubs and, through a promotion round, the Bezirksliga champions.^[6]

League champions

Landesliga Bayern 1945 to 1950

Current league

Source:"The Bavarian Landesligas (German)". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. http://www.f-archiv.de/. Retrieved 2008-11-12. 

League records 1963-2011

The league records in regards to points, wins, loses and goals for the clubs in the league are:

Source:"tables and results of the Landesliga". Herzing Manfred. http://www.manfredsfussballarchiv.de/. Retrieved 2007-12-24. 

References

Sources

• Die Bayernliga 1945 - 1997, (German) published by the DSFS, 1998
• Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen, (German) An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga, publisher: DSFS
• Kicker Almanach, (German) The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
• Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897-1988 (German) History of Southern German football in tables, publisher & author: Ludolf Hyll
• 50 Jahre Bayrischer Fussball-Verband (German) 50-year-anniversary book of the Bavarian FA, publisher: Vindelica Verlag, published: 1996

External links

• (German) Bayrischer Fussball Bund (Bavarian FA)
• (German) Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Historic German league tables
• (German) Bavarian League tables and results
• (German) Website with tables and results from the Bavarian Oberliga to Bezirksliga