The Northern German Football Association (german: Norddeutscher Fußball-Verband; ''NFV'') is one of the five regional associations of the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...

(german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund; ''DFB'') and covers the four German states of

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

and

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sch ...

Structure

In 2017, the ''NFV'' had 1,052,406 members, 3,800 member clubs and 27,686 teams playing in all its men, women and junior league systems. Since the 2012–13 season, at the top of the ''NFV'' men's league system sits the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

, a level four division in 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 ...

. The ''NFV'' itself is formed by the following state associations: *

Bremen Football Association The Bremen Football Association (german: Bremer Fussball-Verband), the ''BFV'', is one of 21 state organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the state of Bremen.Hamburg Football Association The Hamburg Football Association (german: Hamburger Fußball-Verband), the ''HFV'', is one of 21 state organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the state of Hamburg and some parts of southern Schleswig-Holstein.

(german: Hamburger Fußball-Verband; ''HFV'') *

Lower Saxony Football Association The Lower Saxony Football Association (german: Niedersächsischer Fussball-Verband), the ''NFV'', is one of 21 state organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the state of Lower Saxony.

(german: Niedersächsischer Fußball-Verband; ''NFV'') *

Schleswig-Holstein Football Association The Schleswig-Holstein Football Association (german: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Fussball-Verband), the ''SHFV'', is one of 21 state organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers most parts of the state of Schleswig-Holste ...

(german: Schleswig-Holsteinischer Fußball-Verband; ''SHFV'')

History

The ''NFV'' was founded in 1905 as a merger of several local football associations in

Northern Germany Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...

and used to administer the Northern German football championship for the next decades. In 1933, the association along with all other regional associations was disbanded by the Nazi government, with all German football competitions now organized by the

Reich ''Reich'' (; ) is a German language, German noun whose meaning is analogous to the meaning of the English word "realm"; this is not to be confused with the German adjective "reich" which means "rich". The terms ' (literally the "realm of an emp ...

. Soon after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, football competitions in Northern Germany typically restarted on an informal basis, with the ''NFV'' officially reintroduced in 1948. Until 1963, the ''NFV'' had the jurisdiction on the

Oberliga Nord The Oberliga Nord was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. With the introduction of the 3. Liga, the league ceased to exist f ...

, the regional division of the former lop level German Oberliga.nordfv.de: History of the NFV
, accessed: 3 August 2012 After 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 ''NFV'' league system became a feeder to the nationwide divisions.

References

External links

German Football Association official website

Northern German Football Association official website

Bremen Football Association official website

Hamburg Football Association official website

Lower Saxony Football Association official website

Schleswig-Holsteinian Football Association official website
{{Authority control Football governing bodies in Germany Football in Bremen (state) Football in Hamburg Football in Lower Saxony Football in Schleswig-Holstein 1905 establishments in Germany 1933 disestablishments in Germany 1948 establishments in Germany