Promotion to the 3. Liga
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The promotion to the 3. Liga (german: Aufstieg zur 3. Liga) determines the teams that are promoted each season from the Regionalliga, the fourth tier of German football, to the third-tier
3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...
since its formation in 2008–09. The promotion format was changed starting with the 2012–13 season when the Regionalliga was expanded from three leagues ( Nord, Süd, and
West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
) to five (
Bayern Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, Nord, Nordost, Südwest, and West).


Format

For the first four seasons (2008–09 until 2011–12), the champions of the Regionalliga Nord, West, and Süd were promoted directly to the 3. Liga. After the Regionalliga reform, which took effect starting with the 2012–13 season, the number of leagues was expanded to five. The five league champions and the runners-up of the Regionalliga with the whose region has the most clubs and members in the German Football Association (currently Südwest) now participate in an end-of-season play-off competition to determine the three teams which are promoted. The three pairings are drawn from a pot, with the two teams from the same league being prohibited from being drawn together. The pairings are played over two legs, with each team playing one leg at home. The team that scores more goals on aggregate over the two legs is promoted. If the aggregate score is level, the away goals rule is applied, i.e. the team that scored more goals away from home over the two legs advances. If away goals are also equal, then thirty minutes of extra time is played. The away goals rule is again applied after extra time, i.e. if there are goals scored during extra time and the aggregate score is still level, the visiting team advances by virtue of more away goals scored. If no goals are scored during extra time, the tie is decided by
penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
. From the 2018–19 season onwards, four teams are promoted to the 3. Liga. The champions of the Regionalliga Südwest and Nordost are promoted directly. A third team to be promoted is drawn from the three champions of the Regionalliga Nord, West, and Bayern. The remaining two champions play a two-legged promotion play-off for the last promotion. In the following season, the three direct promotion spots go to the champions of the Regionalliga Südwest and the champions of the two leagues that participated in the promotion play-off in the previous season, while the champions of the other two leagues participate in the play-off. This format was installed as a temporary solution until the
DFB-Bundestag The DFB-Bundestag (National Conference) is the highest body of the German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fussball-Bund, DFB). As football parliament it is the legislative assembly of the DFB. Structure The DFB-Bundestag convenes regularly ...
in 2019 decided on a format that would have enabled all Regionalliga champions to be promoted. At the DFB-Bundestag in September 2019, it decided to reform the promotion scheme from the 2020–21 season, in which there continued to be four promotions to the 3. Liga. The Regionalliga West and Southwest each provide a fixed direct promotion. Another direct promotion place is assigned according to a rotation principle among the Regionalliga Nord, Nordost, and Bayern champions. The representatives from the remaining two Regionalligen determine the fourth promoted club in two-legged playoffs.


Direct promotion (2008–09 to 2011–12)


2008–09


2009–10


2010–11


2011–12


Promotion play-offs (2012–13 to 2017–18)


2012–13


2013–14


2014–15


2015–16


2016–17


2017–18


Direct promotion with play-offs (since 2018–19)


2018–19

The Regionalligen Nordost and Südwest were automatically allocated a direct promotion each. The third league to receive another direct promotion was drawn between the Regionalliga Nord, West, and Bayern on 27 April 2018. The remaining two leagues received a promotion play-off spot. The pairing order for the 2018–19 promotion play-offs was determined by a draw held on 27 April 2018. The first leg was played on 22 May and the second leg on 26 May 2019.


2019–20

The Regionalliga Südwest was again automatically allocated a direct promotion. The remaining two leagues to receive direct promotions are the promotion play-off participants of the previous season, determined by a draw on 27 April 2018. Nordost was also automatically allocated a promotion play-off spot, joined by the league drawn to be directly promoted the previous season, also determined by a draw on the same date. As Bavaria suspended all football competitions in March 2020 at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in Germany, the leading team in the Regionalliga Bayern during the suspension, Türkgücü München, was promoted by registration before the 2019–20 season's resumption. The pairing order for the 2019–20 promotion play-offs was determined by a draw held on 12 June 2020. The first leg was played on 25 June and the second leg on 30 June.


2020–21

The Regionalliga West was also automatically allocated direct promotions for 2021 to 2023. Nordost received a third direct promotion. Nord and Bayern were also allocated promotion play-off spots. The latter was represented by a team that won a group stage, held in the spring of 2021, among the top three licensed teams at the end of the resumed 2019–20 Regionalliga Bayern season. They would already applied for 3. Liga licences. Due to the abovementioned suspension of football in Germany during the coronavirus pandemic, the Bavarian state football association agreed, and most of the state's Regionalliga clubs voted, to extend the 2019–20 season beyond September 2020 and continue without Türkgücü München, which meant the association had to cancel the 2020–21 season. The pairing order for the 2020–21 promotion play-offs was determined by a draw held on 8 May 2021. The two legs were held on 12 and 19 June.


2021–22

Bayern received a third direct promotion. Nord and Nordost were also allocated promotion play-off spots. The order of the legs was already determined in a draw. The matches took place on 28 May and 4 June 2022.


2022–23

Nord received a third direct promotion. Nordost and Bayern were also allocated promotion play-off spots. The pairing order for the 2022–23 promotion play-offs will be determined by a draw to be held at a future date.


Statistics

Since the introduction of the 3. Liga in the 2008–09 season, Borussia Dortmund II (2009 and 2012) and
Holstein Kiel Kieler Sportvereinigung Holstein von 1900 e.V., simply as KSV Holstein or Kieler SV Holstein, commonly known as Holstein Kiel (), is a German association football and sports club based in the city of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. From the 1900s thro ...
(2009 and 2013) have both been promoted twice from the Regionalliga.
VfL Wolfsburg II VfL Wolfsburg II was a German association football team from the city of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. It is the reserve team of VfL Wolfsburg. The team's greatest success has been two league championships in the tier four Regionalliga Nord in 2013†...
(2014 and 2016), SV Elversberg (2016 and 2017), and
Waldhof Mannheim SV Waldhof Mannheim is a multi-sports club, located in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg. It is most known for its association football team; however, there are also professional handball and table-tennis sides. The club today has a membership of over ...
(2016 and 2017) have all failed twice in the promotion play-offs. Since the introduction of the promotion play-offs, the second leg has gone into extra time four times. Two of the occasions saw a winner after the extra period, while two matches were decided by a penalty shoot-out after no additional goals were scored. On the other hand, the away goals rule has decided the winner of a tie on two occasions.


See also

* Regionalliga *
Promotion to the Bundesliga The Promotion to the Bundesliga (german: link=no, Aufstiegsrunde zur Bundesliga) was an end-of-season competition, held annually to determine the clubs that were promoted from the ''Regionalligas'', later the ''2. Bundesliga'' to the ''Bundesliga' ...
* Promotion to the 2. Bundesliga


Notes


References


External links


Promotion playoffs
on kicker.de {{Regionalliga 3. Liga Regionalliga
3. Liga The 3. Liga is a professional association football league and the third division in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the fourth-tier Regionalliga. The modern 3. Liga was formed for th ...