American football Regionalliga
| Sport | American football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1985 |
| No. of teams | 32 |
| Country |  Germany |
| Most recent champion(s) | North: East: Berlin Adler West: Assindia Cardinals Central: Southwest: South: |
The American football Regionalliga is the third tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League and the German Football League 2.[1]
The league is subdivided into six regional divisions, the Regionalligas (English: Regional league) Nord (North), Ost (East), West, Mitte (Central), Südwest (Southwest) and Süd (South).[2]
History[]
The league was formed in 1985 with two regional divisions, Central and West. The number of divisions changed frequently in the following years, as did the name of the league, changing to Verbandsliga for a time. From 1991 it operated under name of Regionalliga again with seven divisions, one in the North and two each in the West, Central and Bavaria. From 1995 the league was reduced to four divisions, South, West, Central and Northeast, a format that remained unchanged until 2004 when the Northeast division was split into North and East divisions. Since 2004 the Regionalliga operates in the current five division format.[3]
Organisation[]
The five Regionalligas are organised by the regional American football associations rather than the American Football Association of Germany, like the Regionalliga Süd which is organised by the Bavarian one.[4]
In the 2015 season 33 clubs compete in the league, nine in the central division and six each in the other four.[2]
The top teams of the Regionalliga divisions qualify for the play-offs to the German Football League . The division champions and runners-up of the Central and South division play each other home and away for two promotion spots to the southern division of the German Football League 2, whereby the division winner from one plays the runners-up from the other. In the north, the three division winners of the North, West and East division play each other in a single game round robin for two spots in the northern division of the GFL 2. Promotion is subject to licensing approval and can be enlarged if additional spots in the German Football League 2 become available. An overall Regionalliga championship is not played.[3]
The bottom teams from each division are relegated and replaced with the top teams from the tier below, the American football Oberliga.[3]
Division champions[]
The division champions since adaption of the current structure in 2004:[3]
Northern region[]
| Year | North | East | West |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Berlin Rebels | ||
| 2005 | Osnabrück Tigers | Assindia Cardinals | |
| 2006 | Frankfurt Red Cocks | ||
| 2007 | Assindia Cardinals | ||
| 2008 | Hildesheim Invaders | Magdeburg Virgin Guards | Paderborn Dolphins |
| 2009 | Hamburg Blue Devils | Magdeburg Virgin Guards | Mönchengladbach Mavericks |
| 2010 | Hamburg Blue Devils | Potsdam Royals | Troisdorf Jets |
| 2011 | Osnabrück Tigers | Bonn Gamecocks | |
| 2012 | |||
| 2013 | Hildesheim Invaders | Cologne Crocodiles | |
| 2014 | Osnabrück Tigers | Potsdam Royals | Paderborn Dolphins |
| 2015 | Rostock Griffins | Assindia Cardinals | |
| 2016 | Braunschweig FFC II | Rostock Griffins | |
| 2017 | Elmshorn Fighting Pirates | Berlin Bears | |
| 2018 | Troisdorf Jets | ||
| 2019 | Berlin Adler | Assindia Cardinals |
Southern region[]
The division champions and runners-up since adaption of the structure in 2004:[3]
| Year | Central | South | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winners | Runners-up | Winners | Runners-up | |
| 2004 | Weinheim Longhorns | Deggendorf Black Hawks | ||
| 2005 | Plattling Black Hawks | |||
| 2006 | Stuttgart Silver Arrows | |||
| 2007 | Stuttgart Silver Arrows | Franken Timberwolves | ||
| 2008 | Kaiserslautern Pikes | Rhein Neckar Bandits | Aschaffenburg Stallions | |
| 2009 | Holzgerlingen Twister | Kirchdorf Wildcats | Allgäu Comets | |
| 2010 | Badener Greifs | Kirchdorf Wildcats | Allgäu Comets | |
| 2011 | Kaiserslautern Pikes | Frankfurt Universe | Allgäu Comets | Nürnberg Rams |
| 2012 | Ravensburg Razorbacks | Badener Greifs | Starnberg Argonauts | |
| 2013 | Darmstadt Diamonds | Holzgerlingen Twister | Ingolstadt Dukes | |
| 2014 | Ingolstadt Dukes | München Rangers | ||
| 2015 | Ravensburg Razorbacks | Straubing Spiders | ||
| 2016 | Albershausen Crusaders | Holzgerlingen Twister | Fursty Razorbacks | Straubing Spiders |
- Bold denotes promoted teams.
The division champions since adaption of the current structure in 2017:[3]
| Year | Central | Southwest | South |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Montabaur Fighting Farmers | Straubing Spiders | |
| 2018 | Darmstadt Diamonds | Fursty Razorbacks | |
| 2019 | Frankfurt Pirates | Albershausen Crusaders | Fursty Razorbacks |
- Bold denotes promoted teams.
Current clubs[]
The Regionalliga clubs for the 2016 season:[2]
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References[]
- ^ German Football League 2 Archived 2011-07-18 at the Wayback Machine (in German) AFVD website, accessed: 20 January 2011
- ^ Jump up to: a b c 3. Liga 2015 Football-aktuell.de, accessed: 28 April 2015
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Football History (in German) Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 28 April 2015
- ^ Allgemeine Ligenstruktur AFVBy (in German) Bavarian American football association – league structure, accessed: 28 April 2015
External links[]
- German American Football Association website (in German)
- Football History (in German) Historic American football tables from Germany
- American football leagues in Germany
- 1985 establishments in Germany
- Sports leagues established in 1985