Regionalliga Bayern
Founded
2012
Nation
Germany
State
Kingdom of Bavaria
Promotion To
3rd Liga 3rd Liga The 3rd Liga is the third division of football in Germany. The league started with the beginning of the 2008–09 season, when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third tier football league in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2...
Relegation To
Bayernliga Nord
Bayernliga Süd
Number of Teams
TBD
Level on Pyramid
Level 4 German football league system The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation...
Domestic Cups
Bavarian Cup

The Regionalliga Bayern, (Regional league Bavaria), will be the highest football league in the state of Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

  and the Bavarian Football League System

Bavarian football league system

The Bavarian football league system of the Bavarian Football Association ranks within the German football league system. Its highest division, the Fussball-Bayernliga, is currently the 5th tier of German football. Until the introduction of the 3rd Liga in 2008 it was the 4th tier of the league system...

. It will be one of five Regionalligas in German football, the 4th tier of the German football league system

German football league system

The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to a series of hierarchically interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Germany that consists of over 2,300 men's divisions, in which all leagues are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation...

, below the 3rd Liga

3rd Liga

The 3rd Liga is the third division of football in Germany. The league started with the beginning of the 2008–09 season, when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third tier football league in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2...

.

The league will be established at the end of the 2011-12 season and replace the Regionalliga Süd

Regionalliga Süd

The Regionalliga Süd is currently the fourth tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3rd Liga in 2008, it was the third tier. It currently is the highest regional league for the southern part of Germany...

 at this level in Bavaria.

History

The German league system, having gone through its last adjustment in 2008, when the 3rd Liga was established and the number of Regionalligas increased from two to three, required another adjustment by 2011. The reason for this was the large number of insolvencies on the fourth level, caused by high cost and infrastructure requirements while, at the same time, the clubs at this level complaint about low incomes and little interest from TV broadcasters. Requirements like that fact that Regionalliga stadiums had to have at least 1,000 seats and a separate stand with separate entrance for away spectators were seen as causing to much of a financial strain on amateur clubs. Many clubs also struggled to cope with the 400-pages long license application, having to rely on volunteers rather than being able draw on permanent staff.

This led to Oberliga champions even, at times, declining their right for promotion to avoid the financial risk the Regionalliga meant to them, breaking with a basic principle of German football, that league champions would almost always be promoted.

In a special conference of the German Football Association

German Football Association

The German Football Association is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB organises the German football leagues, including the national league, the Bundesliga, and the men's and women's national teams. The DFB is based in Frankfurt and is...

, the DFB, in October 2010, 223 of 253 delegates voted for a reform of the league system on the fourth level. The number of Regionalligas was to be expanded to five, with the reestablishing of the Regionalliga Nordost

Regionalliga Nordost

The Regionalliga Nordost was the third tier of the German football league system in the states of former East Germany and West-Berlin from 1994 to 2000. As such, it was almost identical in territorial cover to the old DDR-Oberliga....

, the formation of the Regionalliga Bayern and a shift of the Regionalliga Süd to the new Regionalliga Süd/Südwest

Regionalliga Süd/Südwest

The Regionalliga Süd/Südwest will be the fourth tier of the German football league system from 2012 in the states of Hesse, Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland...

.

The suggestion for the league reform had come from Bavaria, where, in a meeting of the Bavarian top-level amateur clubs at Wendelstein

Wendelstein, Bavaria

Wendelstein is a municipality in the district of Roth, in Bavaria, Germany....

, the financial survival of the leagues and clubs in the current system was questioned. It resulted in the publication of what was called the Wendelsteiner Anstoß, which demanded a clear demarcation between professional football on the first three tiers of German football and amateur football below that. For this purpose, the paper also demanded a reestablishment of the German amateur football championship

German amateur football championship

The German amateur football championship was a football competition in Germany, existing from 1950 to 2000, organised by the German Football Association, the DFB.-Overview:...

 as an incentive and goal for top amateur clubs who did not want to turn professional.

Future promotion to the 3rd Liga

The new five Regionalligas with their five league champions will not have the right to direct promotion to the 3rd Liga anymore. Instead, the five league winners and the runners-up of the Süd/Südwest would play-off for three promotion spots. The promotion round will be played in home-and-away format, whereby the two clubs from the Süd/Südwest region can not be paired against each other.

From the 3rd Liga and Regionalliga

The new league will nominally be playing with 18 clubs, however, in its first, transitional season the DFB will permit up to 22 clubs in the league. All Bavarian clubs from the current Regionalliga Süd are directly qualified for the league. Additionally, any Bavarian club relegated from the 3rd Liga in 2012 is also qualified. Restrictions exist however on reserve sides. No more than seven reserve teams are permitted per Regionalliga, should there be more in a league the additional ones would have to be moved to a different Regionalliga. Reserve teams of 3rd Liga clubs are not permitted to play in the Regionalliga. The make up of the clubs entering the new Regionalligas from the leagues below was left to the regional football association and not regulated by the DFB.

Specifically, this meant for Bavaria, that should one or more of the three third league clubs from the state, SSV Jahn Regensburg, SpVgg Unterhaching

SpVgg Unterhaching

Spielvereinigung Unterhaching is a German sports club in Unterhaching, a semi-rural municipality on the southern outskirts of the Bavarian capital Munich....

 or Wacker Burghausen, be relegated at the end of the 2011-12 season, they would directly enter the new Regionalliga Bayern. Additionally, the Bavarian Regionalliga clubs FC Memmingen

FC Memmingen

FC Memmingen is a German association football club based in Memmingen, Bavaria.-Overview:The team was formed on 30 May 1907 as the football department of the gymnastics club Memminger Turnvereins 1859 and became independent in the fall of that year...

, 1. FC Nuremberg II

1. FC Nuremberg II

The 1. FC Nuremberg II is the reserve team of German football club 1. FC Nuremberg, from the city of Nuremberg, Bavaria.Until 2005, the team played under the name of 1. FC Nürnberg Amateure...

 and FC Bayern Munich II

FC Bayern Munich II

Bayern Munich II are the second team of German association football club Bayern Munich. In 2010–11 they played in the 3rd Liga, having qualified for its inaugural season in 2008, and have consistently played at the third level of German football — they played in the Regionalliga Süd from...

 would be directly qualified for the league, unless they earned promotion to the 3rd Liga. The same rule would also apply to the other three Bavarian clubs in the league, TSV 1860 Munich II, SpVgg Greuther Fürth II

SpVgg Greuther Fürth II

The SpVgg Greuther Fürth II is a German association football club from the city of Fürth, Bavaria.It is the reserve team of the SpVgg Greuther Fürth and, since 2008, plays in the tier four Regionalliga Süd...

 and FC Ingolstadt 04 II

FC Ingolstadt 04 II

The FC Ingolstadt 04 II is a German association football club from the city of Ingolstadt, Bavaria.It is the reserve team of FC Ingolstadt 04.-History:...

. However, as their first teams played in the 2nd Bundesliga

2nd Bundesliga

2nd Bundesliga can stand for:*Bundesliga , the name for the premier league of any sport in Germany or Austria*2. Fußball-Bundesliga, the 2nd Division in German football...

 and could possibly be relegated to the 3rd Liga after the 2011-12 season, the reserve sides would then be barred from entry to the Regionalliga Bayern.

It also means, that Bayernliga side SpVgg Unterhaching II

SpVgg Unterhaching II

The SpVgg Unterhaching II is the reserve team of German football club SpVgg Unterhaching, from the Unterhaching suburb of the city of Munich, Bavaria....

 and the Landesliga sides SSV Jahn Regensburg II and Wacker Burghausen II can not gain entry to the Regionalliga unless the first teams win promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga.

The seventh Bavarian Regionalliga club, FC Bayern Alzenau

FC Bayern Alzenau

FC Bayern Alzenau is a German football club based in Alzenau, Bavaria.-History:The club was initially formed as Alzenauer Fußball Club and joined gymnastics club Turn- und Sport Alzenau as that club's football department on 16 September 1922 before again becoming independent in 1923 as FC Bayern...

, traditionally playing in Hesse

Hesse

Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

's league system, will be grouped in the new Regionalliga Süd/Südwest, upon their own request.

From the Bayernliga and Landesliga

The top nine clubs from the Bayernliga at the end of the 2011-12 season will also gain direct entry to the new Regionalliga. The clubs placed tenth to fifteenth will play-off with six Landesliga clubs, the champions and runners-up of each of the three Landesligas, in a home-and-away knockout format for three additional clubs in the Regionalliga. The losers of these games would remain on Bayernliga level.

From outside of Bavaria

The qualifying modus allows for Bavarian clubs not playing in the states league system to qualify for the league, too, should they finish on a direct qualifycation rank in their equivalent league to the Bayernliga or Landesliga. Viktoria Aschaffenburg

Viktoria Aschaffenburg

SV Viktoria 01 Aschaffenburg is a German football club based in Aschaffenburg, Bavaria.Even though Aschaffenburg is located in Bavaria, Viktoria Aschaffenburg historically played its football in the Hessenliga and the associated Hessian leagues, rather than the Fussball-Bayernliga , against clubs...

 decided to take up this option in November 2011, voting to join the Bavarian association from 2012. Playing in the Hessenliga

Hessenliga

The Hessenliga is the highest football league in the state of Hesse and the Hessian football league system. It is one of eleven Oberligas in German football, the 5th tier of the German football league system. It was, until the introduction of the 3...

, the club, should it finish in the top nine, would automatically qualify for the Regionalliga Bayern. If it finished tenth or worse, it would be grouped in the northern division of the Bayernliga.

Below the Regionalliga

The level below the new Regionalliga would continue to be taken up by the Bayernliga, but now in two regional divisions, north and south. The league would consist of all the Bayernliga and, possibly, Regionalliga Süd clubs who failed to gain entry to the new Regionalliga Bayern. Additionally, the six Landesliga champions and runners-up who failed to qualify for the Regionalliga are also to be grouped in the Bayernliga. From the three Landesligas, the clubs placed third to eighth would also be directly qualified. Further places in the two Verbandsligas would then be determined through an as yet undecided on qualifying modus.

Sources

• Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen, An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga, publisher: DSFS
  Deutscher Sportclub für Fußballstatistiken
  The Deutscher Sportclub für Fußballstatistiken e.V., short DSFS is an association dedicated to collecting and publishing German football statistics, similar to the RSSSF, and is a member of the German Olympic Society.The club used to be best known for its annual publication, the Deutschlands...
  
  
• Kicker Almanach, The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
  Kicker (sports magazine)
  kicker Sportmagazin is Germany's leading sports magazine and is focused primarily on football. The magazine was founded in 1920 by German football pioneer Walther Bensemann and is published twice a week, usually Monday and Thursday, in Nuremberg...
  
  

External links

Bayrischer Fussball Verband (Bavarian FA) Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Historic German league tables Bavarian League tables and results