The American football Regionalliga is the third tier of
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...
in Germany, below the
German Football League
The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''Ameri ...
and the
German Football League 2
The German Football League 2 (GFL2) is the second tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League. Until 2007, the league was known as the ''2. Bundesliga''.
League structure
The ''GFL2'', formerly the ''2. Bundesliga'', wh ...
.
The league is subdivided into six regional divisions, the Regionalligas (''English: Regional league'') Nord (''North''), Ost (''East''), West, Mitte (''Central''), Südwest (''Southwest'') and Süd (''South'').
History
The league was formed in 1985 with two regional divisions, Central and West. The number of divisions changed frequently in the following years, as did the name of the league, changing to Verbandsliga for a time. From 1991 it operated under name of Regionalliga again with seven divisions, one in the North and two each in the West, Central and Bavaria. From 1995 the league was reduced to four divisions, South, West, Central and Northeast, a format that remained unchanged until 2004 when the Northeast division was split into North and East divisions. Since 2004 the Regionalliga operates in the current five division format.Football History Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 28 April 2015
Organisation
The five Regionalligas are organised by the regional American football associations rather than the
American Football Association of Germany
The American Football Association of Germany (german: American Football Verband Deutschland; AFVD) is the governing body of the sport of American football in Germany and the German Football League.
Formed in 1982,Allgemeine Ligenstruktur AFVBy Bavarian American football association – league structure, accessed: 28 April 2015
In the 2015 season 33 clubs compete in the league, nine in the central division and six each in the other four.3. Liga 2015 Football-aktuell.de, accessed: 28 April 2015
The top teams of the Regionalliga divisions qualify for the play-offs to the German Football League . The division champions and runners-up of the Central and South division play each other home and away for two promotion spots to the southern division of the German Football League 2, whereby the division winner from one plays the runners-up from the other. In the north, the three division winners of the North, West and East division play each other in a single game round robin for two spots in the northern division of the GFL 2. Promotion is subject to licensing approval and can be enlarged if additional spots in the German Football League 2 become available. An overall Regionalliga championship is not played.
The bottom teams from each division are relegated and replaced with the top teams from the tier below, the American football Oberliga.
Division champions
The division champions since adaption of the current structure in 2004:
Northern region
Southern region
The division champions and runners-up since adaption of the structure in 2004:
* Bold denotes promoted teams.
The division champions since adaption of the current structure in 2017:
* Bold denotes promoted teams.