The Amateur-Oberliga Berlin was the second 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 team ...

in the city of

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

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 betwee ...

from 1947 until the formation 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 footb ...

in 1963, operating under the name of Amateurliga Berlin. After 1963, it was the third tier until 1991, when the league was disbanded. In 1974, the league changed its name from Amateurliga Berlin to Amateur-Oberliga Berlin.''Die Deutsche Liga Chronik 1945-2006'', Section F: Berlin and the Northeast region, publisher: DSFS, published: 2006

Overview

The league was formed under the name of Amateurliga Berlin in 1947 as the second tier of play in the then still united city of Berlin, below the "old" Oberliga Berlin. The league operated with two groups in the 1947-48 season, split into four groups the year after, returned to two in 1949-50 and run in one single group from then onwards. After this season, the

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as West Berlin. From 13 August 1961 u ...

clubs left the Berlin league system to join that of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In t ...

instead. It consisted of twelve teams from 1950, with the two first placed clubs gaining promotion to the Oberliga and the two bottom placed teams being relegated to the Landesliga. The number of clubs was extended to fifteen in 1952, with a third team being relegated from then on. In 1959, the number of clubs was extended to sixteen. With the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963, the "old" Oberliga Berlin was disbanded and the new second-tier Regionalliga Berlin became the highest league in the city of West-Berlin, absorbing most of its clubs. Three clubs from the Amateurliga Berlin were admitted to the new Regionalliga in 1963, these being the Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin, Union 06 Berlin and Reinickendorfer Füchse. The league continued with sixteen clubs and three relegated teams but only one promotion spot now to the Regionalliga. With the enlargement of the Regionalliga in 1965, six clubs from the Amateurliga were admitted and a second promotion spot was granted to the league from then on. In 1969, a seventeenth club was added, the year after an eighteenth. With the introduction of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord and the disbanding of the Regionalliga Berlin in 1974, the Amateurliga became the highest league in Berlin, still as the third tier of the German league system. Nine of the twelve clubs from the Regionalliga went to the Amateurliga which meant that the Amateurliga clubs placed ninth to eighteens were relegated to the Landesliga to keep the number of teams in the league to eighteen. With the reorganization of the Regionalligas in 1974, the league was renamed Amateur-Oberliga Berlin. From 1974, the champions of the Amateurliga 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 i ...

to determine the teams promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga. In 1976, the league was reduced to sixteen clubs. Unlike the other Oberliga champions, the winner of the Berlin league was not directly promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga after this but had to play out a series against the runners-up of 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 ...

, which they lost both times, in 1979 and 1980. The inception of a single 2nd Bundesliga in 1981 meant no team was promoted from the Oberligas that year and after 1981, the Oberliga Berlin champion had to play-off with the winners of the Oberligas Nord, Westfalen and Nordrhein. With the German reunion came the reorganization of the football in former East Germany. The Oberliga Berlin was disbanded and its clubs spread between the

NOFV-Oberliga The NOFV- Oberliga is a division at step 5 of the German football league system. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it became the successor of the DDR-Oberliga, and functions today as a 5th division in the former territory of East Germany and the ...

s Nord and Mitte. The teams placed fifteens and sixteenth went to the new Verbandsliga Berlin.

League champions

The league champions:Historical German league tables
Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv, accessed: 8 February 2015 Source:

Placings in the league 1963 to 1991

The complete list of clubs in the league and their final placings: * ¹ In 1973 SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin went bankrupt and was reformed as Tasmania 73 Berlin . In 2001 the club changed its name to SV Tasmania-Gropiusstadt 1973. In 2011 the club changed its name to SV Tasmania Berlin. * ² In 1986 Hertha BSC Berlin II had to withdraw from the league due to the relegation of the first team. * ³ In 1988 Lichterfelder SU merged with FV Brandednburg-Lichterfelde to form VfB Lichterfelde. In 2004 the club changed its name to Lichterfelder FC.

Key

Founding members of the Amateurliga Berlin

The first proper season of the Amateurliga Berlin took place in 1950, after the East German clubs had left and the league was reduced to one group only. The founder members of this league were: *

VfL Nord Berlin VfL Nord Berlin was a German association football club from the city of Berlin. It was formed on 21 May 1947 in the aftermath of World War II as the successor to Berliner Fußball-Club which was established 15 October 1896 and was one of the ...

* BFC Nordstern * VfL Schöneberg *

Hertha Zehlendorf The Hertha Zehlendorf is a German football club from the suburb of Zehlendorf in Berlin. The club is one of the largest football clubs in the country and has a strong youth department which has won two national youth championships. The depar ...

* Frohnauer SC * Steglitzer SC Südwest * SC Tegel *

SC Charlottenburg SCC Berlin is a German sports club based in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin and founded in 1902 as ''Charlottenburger Sport-Club 1902''. In 1911, they merged with ''Sport-Club Westen 05'' and changed their club colors from yellow and blue ...

SC Staaken SC Staaken () is a German sports club in Staaken, Berlin Germany. The club was founded in 1919. History The club was founded on 12 July 1919. During this time, Hans Berndt played for the club as a youth player. In 1937, the club merged ...

* BSC Rehberge Berlin * Alemannia 06 Haselhorst *

Hakoah Berlin Hakoah Berlin was a German association football club from the city of Berlin established 22 July 1905 as ''Sport-Club Hakoah Berlin''. In 1929, ''Hakoah'' merged with ''Jüdischer Turnverein Bar Kochba Berlin'' (established 22 October 1898) to ...

Disbanding of the Oberliga Berlin

The league was disbanded in 1991, its clubs spread between the new NOFV-Oberligas Mitte and Nord and the Verbandsliga Berlin. To the NOFV-Oberliga Nord: *

Tennis Borussia Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin is a German football club based in the locality of Westend in Berlin. History The team was founded in 1902 as ''Berliner Tennis- und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia'' taking its name from its origins as a tennis and ta ...

Spandauer SV Spandauer SV was a German football club from Berlin. History Early years The capital city was one of the earliest centres of German football and was home to 1. Spandauer Fußballklub Triton, formed on 24 May 1894, and Sportclub Germania ...

* Reinickendorfer Füchse *

Spandauer BC FC Spandau 06 is a German football club based in the Spandau district of Berlin. The club was formed out of the 2003 merger of the traditional side ''Spandauer Ballclub 1906'' and newcomer ''1. FC Spandau'' which was established in 1997. Histo ...

* Wacker 04 Berlin *

BFC Preußen Berlin BFC Preussen is a German football club from Berlin. The team is part of a sports club which also has departments for handball, volleyball, athletics, gymnastics, and ice hockey. ''Preussen'' was one of the founding clubs of the German Footba ...

To the NOFV-Oberliga Mitte: * Hertha BSC Berlin II *

Türkiyemspor Berlin Türkiyemspor Berlin is a Turkish association football club from Berlin. The club began in 1978 as a loose association of young footballers playing recreationally as ''Kreuzberg Gençler Birliği'' (Kreuzberg Youth Union), named after the Ber ...

* VfB Lichterfelde *

* Türkspor Berlin * NSC Marathon 02 *

* Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin II *

SC Gatow Sportclub Gatow Berlin is a German football club from the district of Gatow Gatow (), a district of south-western Berlin is located west of the ''Havelsee'' lake and has forested areas within its boundaries. It is within the borough of Spandau. ...

FV Wannsee FV may stand for: Groups, organizations, companies * Rossiya (airline) (IATA code: FV) * Fachbuchverlag Leipzig, a German publishing house * Federal Vision, an evangelical Christian faith * Funk Volume, a hip hop record label founded by American ...

To the Verbandsliga Berlin: * Rapide Wedding * SV Tasmania 73 Neukölln The Berlin-Liga (formerly Verbandsliga Berlin) is now the highest league in the city of Berlin. The NOFV-Oberliga Mitte existed for only three seasons, then its clubs were spread between the other two NOFV-Oberligas, Nord and Süd. All clubs on this level based in Berlin now play in the northern group.

References

External links

*
Berlin Football Association (BFV)
*
Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv
Historic German league tables {{DEFAULTSORT:Amateur Oberliga Berlin

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 constitu ...

Football competitions in Berlin 1963 establishments in West Germany 1974 disestablishments in West Germany Sports leagues established in 1963 Sports leagues disestablished in 1974 Ger