Bremen-Liga

Bremen-Liga
Founded 1947
Country  Germany
State Bremen (state) Free Hanseatic City of Bremen
Number of teams 16
Level on pyramid Level 5
Promotion to Regionalliga Nord
Relegation to Landesliga Bremen
Current champions Bremer SV
(2016–17)
2016–17

The Bremen-Liga, sometimes also referred to as Oberliga Bremen, is the fifth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German football league system.

Overview

1947-1963

The league was formed in 1947 as Amateurliga Bremen by thirteen clubs, including four from outside of the city-state, in the newly recreated state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen which was then part of the US occupation zone in Germany.

The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and its football association are the smallest in Germany. The state is actually separated in two halves, the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven are split by the state of Lower Saxony.

From the start, the Amateurliga Bremen was a feeder league to the Oberliga Nord which its champion had the option of promotion to. Promotion had to be archived through a play-off with teams from the Amateurligas of Lower Saxony, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. As such, the league was the second tier of the northern German league system.

Promotion to the Oberliga however, became hard to archive for the Bremen champion which only succeeded in 1948 and 1961. This resulted however in a number of back-to-back championships, an oddity for leagues at this level in Germany where direct promotion is the standard.

After its second season, the four clubs from Lower Saxony left the league to rejoin their state's league system. To this day, the Bremen league system however continues to host a few clubs from the neighboring state, usually clubs based right at the border of Bremen.

The league was expanded to fourteen clubs in its third season, compensating for the lost clubs from Lower Saxony by promoting more local clubs. For the coming seasons, the league stuck mostly with a strength of fifteen clubs.

1963-1974

In 1963, with the introduction of the Bundesliga, the disbanding of the Oberliga Nord and the formation of the Regionalliga Nord, the league fell to tier three, but remained unchanged otherwise, with fifteen clubs as its strength. The champion of Bremen continued to have to play-off for promotion, now to the Regionalliga, with the same opposition as before and the same limited success.

The league was increased in size to sixteen clubs in 1973.

1974-1994

After the 1973-74 season, the Regionalliga Nord was disbanded in favor of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord. The new Oberliga Nord was now introduced in northern Germany, as the third tier of the league system, below the 2nd Bundesliga. This meant for the Amateurliga a slip to tier four. The top two teams of the league were however promoted to the new Oberliga and the Amateurliga was renamed Verbandsliga Bremen. The system for promotion from the Verbandsliga remained mostly unchanged but the success rate for the clubs from Bremen greatly improved.

1994-2008

In 1994, the Regionalliga Nord was re-established, now as the third tier of the league system. The Oberliga Nord was in turn replaced by two parallel Oberligas, Niedersachsen/Bremen and Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein. For the Verbandsliga Bremen, this meant a further slip, now to tier five, but also, for the first time in its history, direct promotion for the league champion.

The 1999-2000 season saw another league system change with the reduction of numbers of Regionalligas, this however had only one effect on the Verbandsliga, no promotion was available this year.

In 2004, it was decided to restore the Oberliga Nord in favor of the two separate Oberligas.

The 2006-07 league winner and runner-up, Bremer SV and FC Bremerhaven, did not receive an Oberliga licence and were not promoted.[1]

2008 onwards

At the end of the 2007-08 season, the new 3rd Liga was established and the Oberliga Nord disbanded, again. The four northern German states then were the only region without an Oberliga and the five Verbandsligen sit right below the Regionalliga Nord, parallel to the two NOFV-Oberligen. At the end of the 2007-08 season, the five winners of the northern Verbandsligas played with the sixth placed team from the Oberliga Nord for one last spot in the Regionalliga.[2] The FC Bremerhaven was however refused a Regionalliga licence and therefore not permitted to take part in the promotion round, being replaced by the FC Oberneuland instead.[3]

In the future seasons, promotion for the Bremen champion will only be available through a set of play-off matches with the league winners from Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. These three teams will compete for one promotion spot to the Regionalliga.

The Verbandsliga Bremen will however maintain its status as a tier five league. It is also the only league on this level with a single feeder league, the Landesliga Bremen, below it. In the 2007-08 season, two clubs from the Verbandsliga will be relegated to the Landesliga and two clubs promoted from there.

In the 2008-09 season, only three teams from Bremen played above the Verbandsliga level, these being:

While this seems a small number, one has to consider that the Bremen FA only consists of 80 clubs.[4]

From the 2008-09 season, the league effectiveley has the status of an Oberliga and is referred to as such on some websites while the DFB list the league as Bremen-Liga as its new official name.[5][6]

Position of the Bremen-Liga in the league system

Years Tier Promotion to
1947-63 II Oberliga Nord
1963-74 III Regionalliga Nord
1974-94 IV Oberliga Nord
1994–2004 V Oberliga Niedersachsen/Bremen
2004-08 V Oberliga Nord
2008- V Regionalliga Nord

Source:"Verbandsliga Bremen". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 2008-02-24. 

Founding members of the Amateurliga Bremen

Thirteen clubs, four from Niedersachsen and the other nine from Bremen, formed the league in 1947, these clubs being:

Source:"Amateurliga Bremen". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 2008-02-24. 

Winners of the Bremen–Liga

Season Club
1947–48 TuS Bremerhaven 93
1948–49 SV Hemelingen
1949–50 Blumenthaler SV
1950–51 Blumenthaler SV
1951–52 Blumenthaler SV
1952–53 ATSV 1860 Bremen
1953–54 ATSV 1860 Bremen
1954–55 ATSV 1860 Bremen
1955–56 Bremer SV
1956–57 SV Werder Bremen II
1957–58 Bremer SV
1958–59 Blumenthaler SV
1959–60 Polizei SV Bremen
1960–61 Bremer SV
1961–62 SV Werder Bremen II
1962–63 AGSV Bremen
1963–64 Blumenthaler SV
1964–65 Bremer SV
1965–66 Eintracht Bremen
1966–67 SV Werder Bremen II
1967–68 SV Werder Bremen II
1968–69 TuS Bremerhaven 93 II
1969–70 Polizei SV Bremen
1970–71 Polizei SV Bremen
Season Club
1971–72 Blumenthaler SV
1972–73 Blumenthaler SV
1973–74 Blumenthaler SV
1974–75 TSV Osterholz-Tenever
1975–76 SV Werder Bremen II
1976–77 SG Oslebshausen
1977–78 Bremer SV
1978–79 Blumenthaler SV
1979–80 SFL Bremerhaven
1980–81 FT Geestemünde
1981–82 SFL Bremerhaven
1982–83 Bremer SV
1983–84 SC Vahr
1984–85 Bremer SV
1985–86 Bremer SV
1986–87 FC Mahndorf
1987–88 SFL Bremerhaven
1988–89 Blumenthaler SV
1989–90 TSV Osterholz-Tenever
1990–91 TSV Osterholz-Tenever
1991–92 SFL Bremerhaven
1992–93 FC Bremerhaven
1993–94 FC Bremerhaven
Season Club
1994–95 SV Vatan Sport
1995–96 FC Oberneuland
1996–97 Blumenthaler SV
1997–98 SV Werder Bremen III
1998–99 BTS Neustadt
1999–2000 SC Weyhe
2000–01 SC Weyhe
2001–02 FC Bremerhaven
2002–03 SC Weyhe
2003–04 KSV Vatan Sport Bremen
2004–05 SC Weyhe
2005–06 FC Oberneuland
2006–07 Bremer SV
2007–08 FC Bremerhaven
2008–09 Brinkumer SV
2009–10 SV Werder Bremen III
2010–11 SV Werder Bremen III
2011–12 FC Oberneuland
2012–13 SV Werder Bremen III
2013–14 Bremer SV
2014–15 Bremer SV
2015–16 Bremer SV
2016–17 Bremer SV

Source:"Verbandsliga Bremen". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 2008-02-23. 

League placings

The complete list of clubs and placings in the league since elevation to Oberliga status (2008–present):[7]

Club 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Bremer SV 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 x
Blumenthaler SV 6 8 5 10 7 7 3 2 2 x
Brinkumer SV 1 4 8 9 5 3 2 5 3 x
TuS Schwachhausen 13 10 9 12 11 6 4 4 4 x
Werder Bremen III 4 1 1 3 1 5 7 3 5 x
FC Oberneuland 1 R R R 1 R 6 x
SG Aumund-Vegesack 8 11 3 5 3 4 5 6 7 x
Leher TS 12 14 8 x
Bremer TS Neustadt 7 9 x
VfL 07 Bremen 9 12 12 15 13 9 10 10 x
Habenhauser FV 7 9 10 8 8 8 10 9 11 x
ESC Geestemünde 8 12 x
TSV Grolland 14 12 13 x
OSC Bremerhaven 5 3 4 7 9 9 8 13 14 x
TSV Melchiorshausen 14 14 15 15
SV Grohn 16 11 13 11 16
BSC Hastedt x
Vatan Sport Bremen 16 10 14 15 16 x
Union 60 Bremen 6 6 10 11 15
FC Sparta Bremerhaven 2 4 2 6
SV Türkspor Bremen 11 6 14 13 12 12 16
OT Bremen 12 15 14 15
1. FC Burg 6 11 13 16
SC Lehe-Spaden 15
TSV Wulsdorf 10 7 11 14 16
FC Bremerhaven 2 3 5 7 4
TS Woltmershausen 16
FC Oberneuland II 13 13
SC Weyhe 16
SC Vahr-Blockdiek 15

Key

Symbol Key
B Bundesliga
2B 2. Bundesliga
3L 3. Liga
R Regionalliga Nord
1 League champions
Place League
Blank Played at a league level below this league

References

  1. ↑ "Licence applications for the Oberliga Nord season 2007-08". Northern German FA. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2008.
  2. ↑ "Regulations for the Oberliga Nord 2007-08" (PDF). Northern German FA. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
  3. ↑ Oberliga Nord at kicker.de (in German), accessed: 3 June 2008
  4. ↑ Fussball.de. "Bremen FA". DFB. Retrieved 2017-05-28.
  5. ↑ Die Fussballecke - Bremen-Liga (in German) results and tables of the current league season, accessed: 7 July 2008
  6. ↑ Weltfussball.de - Oberliga Bremen Archived 1 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. (in German) results and tables of the current league season, accessed: 7 July 2008
  7. ↑ Bremen-Liga tables & results (in German) kicker.de, accessed: 15 July 2015

Sources

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