The Amateurliga Saarland was the highest football league in the state of

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, a ...

and 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 team ...

from 1951, when the clubs from the Saar returned to

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 ...

, till the formation of the Oberliga Südwest and the

Verbandsliga Saarland The Verbandsliga Saarland is currently the seventh tier of the German football league system in the German federated state of Saarland. Until the introduction of the Saarlandliga in 2009 it was the sixth tier, until the introduction of the 3. Liga ...

below it in 1978.

Overview

The Ehrenliga Saarland was formed in 1947 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.France – List of Final Tables Second Level
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 Homburg * Sportfreunde Burbach * FC Ensdorf * SC Brebach * Preußen Merchweiler * FV Püttlingen * SV Ludweiler * ASC Dudweiler * SV Bliekastel * Hellas Marpingen * Viktoria Hühnerfeld With the return to the German league system in 1951, two teams from the Amateurliga 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 2. Oberliga Südwest, the Viktoria Hühnerfeld, SC Altenkessel 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 * Sportf ...

. 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 i ...

. The champion would have to compete with the winners of the

Amateurliga Südwest The Amateurliga Südwest was the highest football league in the region of the Südwest FA and the third tier of the German football league system from its inception in 1952 to the formation of the Oberliga Südwest and the Verbandsliga 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 Rhineland ...

. 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 footb ...

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 2. Bundesliga Süd in 1974.

Disbanding of the Amateurliga Saarland

In 1978, the Oberliga Südwest was formed to allow direct promotion to the 2. Bundesliga Süd for the amateur champion of the area. The last league winner, Borussia Neunkirchen, was promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. The teams placed two to seven gained entry to the Oberliga while the other twelve teams were put into the new Verbandsliga Saarland, now the fourth tier of the football league system. Admitted to the new Oberliga: *

SV Röchling Völklingen SV Röchling Völklingen is a German association football club that plays in Völklingen, part of the greater Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club draws its name from the Röchling family, owners of the Völklingen Ironworks steel factory, a form ...

* SV St. Wendel * VfB Dillingen * ASC Dudweiler *

SV Auersmacher SV Auersmacher is a German football club from the Auersmacher quarter of Kleinblittersdorf, Saarland. It was established on 15 July 1919 as ''Fußballclub Auersmacher''.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag __TOC__ ...

* FSV Saarwellingen Relegated to the new Verbandsliga: * SC Friedrichsthal * SSV Überherrn * SV Bliesen *

FV Eppelborn 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 h ...

SV Hasborn 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 ...

* VfB Theley * FC Ensdorf * Saar 05 Saarbrücken * SV Oberthal * SV Weiskirchen * SV Fraulautern * SV St. Ingbert

Winners of the Amateurliga Saarland

Source: * Bold denotes team gained promotion. * In 1951 the Borussia Neunkirchen was also promoted despite only finishing ninth in the league. * In 1952 the league winner was promoted for a last time to the Oberliga Südwest and the teams placed second to fourth went to the new 2. Oberliga Südwest. * In 1953 promotion went to the fourth placed ASC Dudweiler.

References

Sources

* ''Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen'', An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga, publisher: DSFS * ''kicker Almanach'', The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the kicker Sports Magazine * ''Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897–1988'' History of Southern German football in tables, publisher & author: Ludolf Hyll * ''Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945–2005'' History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables, publisher: DSFS, published: 2006

External links

Das deutsche Fussball Archiv
Historic German league tables
Saarland Football Association website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amateurliga Saarland 1978 disestablishments in Germany Defunct association football leagues in Germany Football competitions in Saarland 1951 establishments in Germany Sports leagues established in 1951 Ger