The Amateurliga Saarland was the highest football league in the state of

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

and the third tier of the

German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for Football in Germany, association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 Season (sports), season consisted of 2,235 Sports_leag ...

from 1951, when the clubs from the Saar returned to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, till the formation of the Oberliga Südwest and the

Verbandsliga Saarland The Verbandsliga Saarland is currently the seventh tier of the German football league system in the German federated state of Saarland. Until the introduction of the Saarlandliga in 2009 it was the sixth tier, until the introduction of the 3. Liga ...

below it in 1978.

Overview

The Ehrenliga Saarland was formed in 1947 in the state of Saarland. The league was originally a feeder league to the Oberliga Südwest. Due to the special situation of Saarland, its clubs left the German football league system from 1949 to 1951 with the 1. FC Saarbrücken playing a year in the French second division.France – List of Final Tables Second Level
From its return in 1951, now under the name of Amateurliga Saarland, until the establishment of the Oberliga Südwest in 1978, it was the third tier of the football league system. The league was established in 1947 with ten teams, the winner gaining promotion to the Oberliga Südwest. The founder members were: *

FC Homburg Fußball-Club 08 Homburg or simply FC Homburg is a German association football club based in Homburg, Saarland, that competes in the Regionalliga Südwest. The club was founded on 15 June 1908 as ''Fussball Club Homburg'' by a group of seventeen ...

* Sportfreunde Burbach *

FC Ensdorf FC Ensdorf is a German association football club from the village of Ensdorf, Saarland. The club's greatest success has been promotion to the two Regionalliga Südwest where it played for a season in 1973–74. The club has also made two app ...

* SC Brebach * Preußen Merchweiler * FV Püttlingen *

SV Ludweiler SV, Sv, sv, etc. may refer to: Places and language * El Salvador, ISO 3166-1 country code SV * South Vietnam, an extinct state * Svalbard, Norway, FIPS country code SV * Swedish language, ISO 639-1 language code sv * Silicon Valley, a region in n ...

* ASC Dudweiler * SV Bliekastel * Hellas Marpingen *

Viktoria Hühnerfeld Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

With the return to the German league system in 1951, two teams from the Amateurliga were admitted to the Oberliga Südwest, the 1. FC Saarbrücken and

Borussia Neunkirchen Borussia VfB Neunkirchen is a German association football club based in Neunkirchen, Saarland. The club ''SC Borussia Neunkirchen'' was founded out of the 1907 merger of ''FC 1905 Borussia'' and ''SC Neunkirchen''. History From 1912 through t ...

. The year after, three clubs were admitted to the new 2. Oberliga Südwest, the

SC Altenkessel SC Altenkessel is a German football club from the district of Altenkessel in the city of Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club was briefly part of first-division play during World War II and after the war played in the Saarlandliga when the state of ...

und

Sportfreunde Saarbrücken Sportfreunde (''English: Sport friends'') is the name of a number of German sports clubs an may refer to: Association football * Sportfreunde Baumberg * Vereinigte Breslauer Sportfreunde * Sportfreunde Eisbachtal * Sportfreunde Köllerbach * Sp ...

. The winner of the Amateurliga Saarland was not automatically promoted to its superior league but rather had to take part in a

promotion play-off Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or ...

. The champion would have to compete with the winners of the

Amateurliga Südwest The Amateurliga Südwest was the highest football league in the region of the Südwest FA and the third tier of the German football league system from its inception in 1952 to the formation of the Oberliga Südwest and the Verbandsliga Südwest ...

and

Rheinland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

. With the introduction of the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

in 1963 the Amateurliga was placed below the new

Regionalliga Südwest The Regionalliga Südwest ( en, Regional League Southwest) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. It is one of five leagues at this level, together wit ...

but still retained its third-tier status. It continued to do so after the introduction of the 2. Bundesliga Süd in 1974.

Disbanding of the Amateurliga Saarland

In 1978, the Oberliga Südwest was formed to allow direct promotion to the 2. Bundesliga Süd for the amateur champion of the area. The last league winner, Borussia Neunkirchen, was promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. The teams placed two to seven gained entry to the Oberliga while the other twelve teams were put into the new Verbandsliga Saarland, now the fourth tier of the football league system. Admitted to the new Oberliga: * SV Röchling Völklingen *

SV St. Wendel SV, Sv, sv, etc. may refer to: Places and language * El Salvador, ISO 3166-1 country code SV * South Vietnam, an extinct state * Svalbard, Norway, FIPS country code SV * Swedish language, ISO 639-1 language code sv * Silicon Valley, a region ...

VfB Dillingen {{Short pages monitor