The Swabian football league system is a league system operating in the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n ''

Regierungsbezirk A ' () means "governmental district" and is a type of administrative division in Germany. Four of sixteen ' ( states of Germany) are split into '. Beneath these are rural and urban districts. Saxony has ' (directorate districts) with more res ...

'' of

Swabia Swabia ; german: Schwaben , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of ...

(German: ''Schwaben'').

Overview

The Swabian football league system operates within the Bavarian and

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 ...

s. The highest league in Swabia was, from 1988 to 2012, the

Bezirksoberliga Schwaben The Bezirksoberliga Schwaben was the seventh tier of the German football league system in the Bavarian ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Swabia (german: Schwaben). Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the sixth tier of the league system, unt ...

, in its final years the seventh tier of the

. Until the ''

3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for t ...

'' was introduced in 2008, was the sixth tier of the league system, until the introduction of the ''

Regionalliga The Regionalliga () is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the four ...

s'' in 1994 the fifth tier. The league system in Swabia currently consists of five tiers, these being: *

Bezirksliga The Bezirksliga ( en, County League) is commonly a medium set of amateur divisions set at steps 7, 8 or 9 in the German football league system. Structure Depending on the structural organisation within each of the 21 state football associations ...

(VII), in two groups * Kreisliga (VIII), in six groups *

Kreisklasse The Kreisliga ( en, District League), along with the ''Kreisoberliga'' ( en, District Premier League) and the ''Kreisklasse'' ( en, District Class), are the lowest set of divisions in the German football league system, set at step 8 and below. S ...

(IX), in thirteen groups * A-Klasse (X), in thirteen groups * B-Klasse (XI), in twenty-one groups Unlike most other parts of

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 ...

, Swabia does not allow all reserve teams to take part in the main league system. Reserve teams from clubs in the Kreisliga and below play in separate, parallel leagues without promotion or relegation. A reserve side can only enter the main league system when the first team gains entry to the Bezirksliga. When a first team is relegated back down from the Bezirksliga, the second team has to leave the main system again. Clubs in the ''B-Klasse'' do not suffer relegation as there is no league below, it is the bottom of the league pyramid in Swabia. In the other regions of Germany, where reserve sides are fully integrated, there is further leagues below the B-Klasse, usually the C-Klasse. In some areas there can also be a D and E-Klasse, like in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The Swabian league system is home to some clubs not actually based in Swabia. The best known of those clubs, all from the western part of

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and seat o ...

, are the FC Pipinsried and the

TSV Landsberg TSV Landsberg is a German association football club from the town of Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria. The club's greatest success has been to win promotion to the Bayernliga on two occasions, 1997 and 2014. History ''TSV'' was established in Novem ...

. In turn, some clubs from the very west of Swabia chose to play in the

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Würt ...

league system, most successful of those are the SpVgg Au/Iller, FV Illertissen and the

SpVgg Lindau The SpVgg Lindau is a German football club from Lindau, Bavaria. Overview The club was formed on 1 August 1919 as the football department of the ''TSV 1850 Lindau'' under the leadership of Sosthenes Sailer and its first chairman Goldbrunner. Th ...

. All up, 75 clubs from Swabia play in the Württemberg league system, 45 of those in the Donau/Iller region, the remainder spread over other border regions of the ''WFV''. In late 2010, the idea was floated that those clubs could be forced to return to the Bavarian league system but this idea was dropped again. The Swabian league system also accommodates one club from

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, the SV Kleinwalsertal, which plays in the A-Klasse Allgäu 4 since 2016–17. With the league reform at the end of the 2011–12 season, which included an expansion of the number of Landesligas from three to five, the Bezirksoberligas were disbanded. Instead, the Bezirksligas took the place of the Bezirksoberligas once more at the level below the Landesligas.

The league system

The league system from the 2014–15 season: * All leagues on same level run parallel. * ^‡ Denotes league without clubs from Swabia since 2012–13.

Recent changes

In 1998, the Bavarian FA renamed the three lowest football leagues: *A-Klasse became Kreisliga *B-Klasse became Kreisklasse *C-Klasse became A-Klasse Additionally, in some of the seven ''Bezirke'', two new lowest levels were introduced and named B and C-Klasse. Initially, only Oberbayern introduced both of this new levels. In 2010, Swabia introduced the B-Klasse, disbanding the A-Klasse for a season in the process to make adjustments to the league system. The following season, A-Klasses were reintroduced.

Schwaben Cup

Annually since 1947, the Swabian FA, like the other six Bavarian FA's, staged a cup competition, the ''

Schwaben Cup The Schwaben Cup (German: ''Schwäbischer Pokal'') was a domestic cup competition in the Bavarian ''Regierungsbezirk'' of Swabia (German: ''Schwaben''), played from 1947 to 2009. Overview The competition was first played in 1947, before the rei ...

'', open to all senior teams from the Swabian league system and Swabian clubs up to the Regionalliga. The winner of this competition was qualified for the Bavarian Cup. Through this competition, the winner and runners-up in turn gain entry to the

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

. The record number of wins is held by

FC Augsburg Fußball-Club Augsburg 1907 e. V., commonly known as FC Augsburg () or Augsburg, is a German football club based in Augsburg, Bavaria. FC Augsburg play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. The team was founded as ...

which won its thirteenth title in 2005. The competition went defunct in 2009.

References

External links

Bavarian league tables and resultsBavarian Football Association - BFV
with league tables, results and cup competitions
Schwaben Football Association - SFVSchwabensoccer.de
Website with news, tables and results from the leagues of the greater Augsburg region {{Schwaben football leagues Swab Football leagues in Swabia