The Oberliga Niederrhein ( en, Premier League of the Lower Rhine) is a German amateur football division administered by the
Football Association of the Lower Rhine, one of the 21 German state football associations. Being the top flight of the Lower Rhine state association, the
Oberliga is currently a level 5 division of the
German football league system
The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 season consisted of 2,235 leagues in up to 13 levels having 31,645 teams ...
.
History
Until 1956, a total of ten
Landesliga divisions, among them three divisions of
Landesliga Niederrhein
The Landesliga Niederrhein is the second highest amateur football league in the Lower Rhine region which is part of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and since 2012 the sixth tier of the German football league system. It operates in two groups wh ...
were the highest amateur level in the state of
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
. After the regular season, the ten Landesliga champions had to play-off for two promotion spots to
2. Oberliga West. Upon decision of the superior
Western German football association
The Western German Football Association (german: Westdeutscher Fußballverband; ''WDFV'') is one of the five regional associations of the German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund; ''DFB'') and covers German state of North Rh ...
, in 1956 four divisions of
Verbandsliga were introduced, one of them being the ''Verbandsliga Niederrhein''. These four divisions of Verbandsliga still exist today, with the ''Verbandsliga Niederrhein'' in 2008 renamed to ''Niederrheinliga'' and later in 2012 renamed to ''Oberliga Niederrhein''.
The
Verbandsliga Niederrhein was upon its inception 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 association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 season consisted of 2,235 leagues in up to 13 levels having 31,645 teams ...
. The league champion had to play-off the winners of the
Verbandsliga Mittelrhein and the two divisions of
Verbandsliga Westfalen for two promotion spots to the
2nd Oberliga West. Upon 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 league was set below the new
Regionalliga West
The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...
but remained as the third tier. With the exception of 1963 and 1974, when the league systems were changed, the champion continued to have the opportunity to win promotion. In 1964, 1970, 1976 and 1978, the league winner failed to do so; in every other season they were successful. In 1977, the runner-up was promoted as
Fortuna Düsseldorf II was ineligible.
The league operated with 16 clubs throughout most of its existence, only occasionally altering the numbers to balance out promotion and relegation.
With the replacement of the Regionalliga by the
2nd Bundesliga Nord in 1974, the league champion had to gain promotion through a
play-off system with the winners of the other tier-three leagues in northern Germany.
In 1978, the
Amateur-Oberliga Nordrhein was formed as the third tier of football in the region compromising the area of the Verbandsliga Niederrhein and Verbandsliga Mittelrhein. One of the main reasons for this move was to provide direct promotion for the tier-three champions again. The clubs placed one to seven in the league were admitted to the new Oberliga, these being:
*
Olympia Bocholt
*
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen is a German association football club in Oberhausen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was formed as ''Oberhausener SV'' in December 1904 out of the merger of ''Emschertaler SV'' (1902) and the football enthusiasts of ''Oberh ...
*
VfB Remscheid
*
TuS Xanten
*
1. FC Viersen 1. is the Ordinal number (linguistics), ordinal form of the number 1 (number), one in a number of Languages of Europe, European languages.
1. may also refer to:
Association football Austria
* 1. FC Vöcklabruck, a defunct Austrian association foot ...
*
ASV Wuppertal
*
RSV Meerbeck
Verbandsliga Niederrhein, together with Mittelrhein, remained as a feeder league for the new Oberliga, but now as a tier-four competition. Its champion, and in some years the runners-up, were directly promoted to the Oberliga Nordrhein.
With the re-introduction of the Regionalligen in 1994, the league slipped to tier five but remained unchanged otherwise.
From 2008, with the introduction of the
3rd Liga, the Verbandsliga Niederrhein was downgraded to the sixth tier. The league above it was then the new
NRW-Liga, a merger of the Oberligen Nordrhein and
Westfalen
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
. The champion of the Verbandsliga continued to be directly promoted but since there were now four Verbandsligen below the Oberliga, the runners-up did not have the option of promotion unless the league winner declined.
The NRW-Liga existed for only for seasons before it was disbanded again in the wake of the
Regionalliga West
The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...
becoming a league for clubs from North Rhine-Westphalia only. While the Oberliga Westfalen was established again in one half of the state the regions of Lower Rhine and Middle Rhine opted to elevate the Niederrheinliga and Mittelrheinliga to Oberliga status instead of reforming the Oberliga Nordrhein.
League champions
Source:
*''Union Solingen'' holds the record number of titles in the league with four.
* The 2013–14 champions SV Hönnepel-Niedermörmter declined promotion;
FC Kray
The FC Kray is a German football club from the Kray suburb of Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia.
The club's greatest success has been to earn promotion to the tier four Regionalliga West in 2012, and again in 2014.
History
FC Kray was formed in 1 ...
were promoted instead.
* The 2020–21 season was curtailed owing to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Germany
The COVID-19 pandemic in Germany has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths.
On 27 January 2020, the first case in Germany was confirmed near Munich, Bavaria. By mid February, the arising cluster of cases had been fully containe ...
. There was no champion or promotion.
Clubs in the Oberliga Niederrhein since 2012
The final league placings of all clubs in the league since receiving Oberliga status in 2012:
Oberliga Niederrhein tables and results
Weltfussball.de
Key
Founding members of the league
From the Landesliga Gruppe 1:
* TSV Eller 04
* VfL Benrath
* Grün-Weiß Viersen
* SpVgg Gräfrath
* TuRU Düsseldorf
From the Landesliga Gruppe 2:
* FV Duisburg 08
* TuS Lintfort
* SpVgg Hochheide
* Homberger SV
* SC Kleve
From the Landesliga Gruppe 3:
* TuS Duisburg 48/99
* Sterkrade 06/07
* BV Osterfeld
* 1. FC Mülheim-Styrum
* SV Borbeck
* TSG Karnap
References
Sources
* ''Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen'', An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga. DSFS.
* ''Kicker Almanach'', The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937. ''Kicker'' Sports Magazine.
* ''Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945–2005'' History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables. DSFS. 2006.
External links
Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
Historic German league tables
Niederrhein Football Association (FVN)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Niederrhein, Oberliga
Oberliga (football)
Football competitions in North Rhine-Westphalia
1956 establishments in Germany