The Regionalliga West/Südwest was 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 teams ...

in the states 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, and ...

Rheinland-Pfalz Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

and

Nordrhein-Westfalen North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhab ...

from 1994 to 2000.

Overview

The Regionalliga West/Südwest was formed in 1994 to form a regional third level of play between the

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

and the Oberligas

Westfalen Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

, Nordrhein and Südwest. The league was made up of 18 clubs, with six each from the three regions it covered. It was formed alongside three other Regionalligas, the

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

, Nordost and Süd. The founding members were: From the 2. Bundesliga: * Rot-Weiß Essen (Oberliga Nordrhein region) From the Oberliga Westfalen: * Arminia Bielefeld *

SC Verl SC Verl is a German association football club based in Verl, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club was founded on 6 September 1924, and since 1970 has consistently played in the higher echelons of amateur football. The club was promoted to the profe ...

* TuS Paderborn-Neuhaus *

SpVgg Erkenschwick SpVgg Erkenschwick is a German football club based in Oer-Erkenschwick in North Rhine-Westphalia. History Founded as ''Sportverein Erkenschwick'' in 1916, they joined ''Emscher-Lippe-Spielverband'' to form ''Sportfreunde Erkenschwick'' in 1 ...

* SG Wattenscheid 09 II *

Preußen Münster Preußen or Preussen is the German word for Prussia. It also refers to: Ships * ''Preußen'' (ship), windjammer built in 1902 * SMS ''Preußen'' (1873), armored frigate * SMS ''Preußen'' (1903), pre-dreadnought Battleship * , vorpostenboot ...

From the Oberliga Nordrhein: *

Wuppertaler SV Wuppertaler SV is a German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in 1929 out of the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cronenberg and Ronsdorf – e ...

* Alemannia Aachen *

Bonner SC Bonner SC is a German association football club based in Bonn. The club was formed in 1965 through the merger of ''Bonner FV'' and ''Tura Bonn''. Its former women's football department won the German national championship in 1975. History ''B ...

* Preußen Köln *

1. FC Bocholt 1. FC Bocholt is a German association football club based in Bocholt, North Rhine-Westphalia. History The team was founded 21 August 1900 as ''Fußball-Club Bocholt'' and in 1919 was joined by ''VfvB Bocholt'', which had been established in 191 ...

From the Oberliga Südwest: * FSV Salmrohr * SV Eintracht Trier 05 *

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 ...

* SC Hauenstein * SV Edenkoben * VfB Wissen The number of teams in the league varied, starting its first season (1995) with 18, then 19 (1996), 18 (1997, 1998), 17 (1999), and 20 (2000). The league winner was always promoted to the 2. Bundesliga; the runners up were also promoted in two of the seasons. The regulation on which of the runners-up of the four Regionalligas went up meant that promotion was allocated in an alternating way. After 1995, it gave the runners-up a chance to gain promotion too via a

play-off The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. In its final season (2000), Regionalliagas were reduced from four to two. With the exception of the Sportfreunde Siegen, clubs from Nordrhein-Westfalen went to the

. The clubs from Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland went to the Regionalliga Süd. In 2008, the number of Regionalligas will be expanded from two to three and there will be a new

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

which will cover exactly the area the old Regionalliga West/Südwest did, but will then be the fourth tier of German football.

Disbanding of the Regionalliga West/Südwest

When the league was discontinued in 2000, the first two clubs in the league went to the 2. Bundesliga, clubs placed third to twelfth moved to the two remaining Regionalligas, seven to the north and three to the south. The other eight league teams were relegated down to the Oberligas. To the Regionalliga Nord: *

SG Wattenscheid 09 SG Wattenscheid 09 is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wattenscheid, Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club claimed an official founding date of 18 September 1909 as Ballspiel-Verein Wattenscheid out of the me ...

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a German football club in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, which competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fortuna entered the league ...

* Rot-Weiß Essen *

SC Preußen Münster SC Preußen Münster (English: Prussia Münster) is a German sports club based in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia which is mostly recognised for its football section. The football team currently plays in Regionalliga West which is the fourth tie ...

* Borussia Dortmund II * KFC Uerdingen 05 To the Regionalliga Süd: * Sportfreunde Siegen * SV Eintracht Trier 05 * SV Elversberg The Sportfreunde Siegen were the oddity in this distribution, being from the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen which had all its clubs in the northern group except the ''Sportfreunde''. The reason for this was the fact that

Siegen Siegen () is a city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg region. The university town (nearly 20,000 students in the 2018–2019 winter semest ...

is in the far south of the state.

Winners and runners-up of the Regionalliga West/Südwest

Source: *All league winners promoted. *In 1996 and 2000, ''Rot-Weiß Essen'' and ''LR Ahlen'' were also promoted as runners-up.

Placings in the Regionalliga West/Südwest

The following clubs have played in the league and achieved the following final positions: Source:

Key

Notes

*In 1997, TuS Paderborn-Neuhaus was renamed

SC Paderborn 07 Sport-Club Paderborn 07 e.V., commonly known as simply SC Paderborn 07 () or SC Paderborn, is a German association football club based in Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club has enjoyed its greatest successes since the turn of the mille ...

. *In 1999, Wuppertaler SV and FC Homburg were relegated for financial reasons.

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Das deutsche Fußball Archiv

Regionalligas at Fussballdaten.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Regionalliga West Sudwest West Sudwest Defunct association football leagues in Germany Football competitions in North Rhine-Westphalia Football competitions in Rhineland-Palatinate Football competitions in Saarland 1994 establishments in Germany 2000 disestablishments in Germany Sports leagues established in 1994 Sports leagues established in 2000 Ger