The Verbandsliga Saarland is currently the seventh 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 ...

in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

federated state A federated state (which may also be referred to as a state, a province, a region, a canton, a land, a governorate, an oblast, an emirate or a country) is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federation. Such states d ...

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 ...

. Until the introduction of the

Saarlandliga The Saarlandliga (English: ''Saarland league'') is currently the sixth tier of the German football league system in the German federal state of Saarland. It was a new league, introduced at the end of the 2008-09 season. In the past, the term ''Saa ...

in 2009 it was the sixth tier, until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the fifth tier of the league system, until the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 the fourth tier. From the 2012-13 season onwards the league will be played in two regional divisions and the Landesligas below it increased in numbers from two to four.

Overview

The ''Verbandsliga'' was formed in 1947 under the name of Ehrenliga Saarland 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. 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 08 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 league, now called Amateurliga Saarland 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 ''2nd 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 Amateurligen 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 2nd Bundesliga Süd in 1974. In 1978, the same time as the Oberliga Südwest, the

Amateurliga Saarland The Amateurliga Saarland was the highest football league in the state of Saarland and the third tier of the German football league system from 1951, when the clubs from the Saar returned to Germany, till the formation of the Oberliga Südwest an ...

was renamed Verbandsliga Saarland and was now the fourth tier of the league system. The top seven teams out of the ''Amateurliga'' went to the new Oberliga while the teams from place 8 to 19 found themselves in the

Verbandsliga The Verbandsliga ( en, Football Association League) is usually a tier-six football league in the German football league system, covering the area of a '' Bundesland'' or a regional part of such Bundesland.Südwest and

gains direct promotion to the ''Oberliga Südwest''. The runners-up will only get a chance for promotion when there are additional spots to fill in the ''Oberliga'', like 1994 when the Regionalligen were introduced and ''VfB Dillingen'' was promoted. The

was the youngest of the states of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, until 1957 it was a separate entity under French supervision. Its football league was temporarily separate, too. The clubs from the

Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name *Saar Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist *Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), Est ...

did not play in the

from 1948 to 1951. Feeder Leagues to the Verbandsliga Saarland *Landesliga Saarland-Nord *Landesliga Saarland-Ost *Landesliga Saarland-Süd *Landesliga Saarland-West In May 2008, the Saarland Football Association decided to change the league system by introducing the new

as the sixth tier, between Oberliga and Verbandsliga, from 2009. For the Verbandsliga, this meant, it would lose almost all its clubs to the new league and be relegated to seventh tier. Otherwise, it remained unchanged.

League winners

The league champions in the single division era: The league champions in the two division era: *bold denotes club gained promotion. *''VfB Dillingen'' (1994), ''Rot–Weiß Hasborn'' (1999), ''1. FC Saarbrücken II'' (2002), ''TuS Steinbach'' (2015), ''FSG Bous'' (2017), ''SF Rehlingen'' (2018) and ''1. FC Reimsbach'' (2019) were also promoted, finishing runners–up. *''FC Kutzhof'' withdrew from the league in 2006; no team from Saarland was promoted that year. The club's main sponsor withdrew its support and the team could not be financed to play in the ''Oberliga''. Kutzhof withdrew on 10 July 2006. Had the withdrawal been done before 30 June, the runners–up of the league could have been promoted instead.FC Kutzhof vor dem Aus
(in German)

Saarländischer Rundfunk Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR; ''Saarland Broadcasting'') is a public radio and television broadcaster serving the German state of Saarland. With headquarters in the Halberg Broadcasting House in Saarbrücken, SR is a member of the ARD consort ...

. 11 July 2006. Retrieved 7 August 2008

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. * ''Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897-1988'' History of Southern German football in tables, by Ludolf Hyll * ''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
Saarland Football Association website

Verbandsliga Saarland at Fussball.de
{{Football in Saarland Saa Football competitions in Saarland 1947 establishments in Germany Sports leagues established in 1947