The 4th division is in winterbreak, usually not starting back up until early February.
I actually think that the DFB got it right, having true regional leagues that make sense.
There still are too many “B” squads, which has a downward influence on attendance figures, but you could argue that the mostly U23 sides have contributed strongly to the development of young German players, reflected in the revival of the national squad. And a few of the old traditionals, like Rot-Weiss Essen, are doing decently at the box office. (RWE seems to be pulling in 8,500+ average crowds at home).
The North division has several traditional clubs, but only leaders Holstein Kiel is doing well. Clubs such as Oldenburg, Meppen, Lübeck and Wilhelmshaven have graced the 2nd division at some time, but the latter two are in severe trouble. Lübeck is probably worse off, as they are struggling to avoid insolvency.
The Northeast division is essentially a remake of the old DDR-Oberliga, albeit not with all it’s members. Noveau riche RB Leipzig is the pacesetter, perhaps Hoffenheim, part Deux. Traditionals such as Jena, Zwickau, Magdeburg, Lok Leipzig and Plauen make this one of the more interesting leagues. Of course, it’s also the home of Hoffenheim cup killer Berliner AK-47, although they’re pretty obscure, even by obscure Berlin standards.
The West is a dogfight, with several clubs vying for the top spot. Of course, it’s has some of the more attractive headliners, with no less than four ex-Bundesligists in the ranks: Fortuna Köln, Essen, Wuppertal and Oberhausen. Indeed, next year we see the addition of another, Alemannia Aachen, who look to be forcibly relegated from the 3.Liga due to insolvency. And the fun continues, as a 6th seems inevitable: KFC Uerdingen has the best record in German football, and a 19(!) point lead in the 5th division Oberliga Niederrhein.
The Southwest has two clubs in the 3.Liga promotion playoffs, as it’s made up of the most regional associations. There are 3 ex-Bundesliga clubs, Waldhof, Ulm and Homburg, but only the former looks like it has a chance to move up. The pacesetter is Elversberg, a village team that has made a name for itself. Also interesting is Alzenau, which actually is in Bayern, and should be playing in their league. But fortunately, they stand a good chance of getting relegated, so they’ll disappear from the southwest 
There is no “south”, having been replaced by a single Bayern division. It’s a bit arrogant of those pompous Bavarians, don’t you think? It’s mostly unkown village teams, I would say the most fanous club is Bayern Hof, and they’re dead last. Still never underestimate those villagers. The name of TSV Vestenbergsgreuth still strikes fear in the heart of Bayern München fans. Well, it would if most of them weren’t fair weather Hansi-komm-lately types, who wouldn’t even know what I was talking about, hehehe
Regionalliga Nord 1 Holstein Kiel 19 14 3 2 55:19 +36 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Hannover 96 II 19 13 3 3 51:24 +27 42 3 TSV Havelse 18 10 5 3 28:13 +15 35 4 VfL Wolfsburg II 19 9 6 4 31:14 +17 33 5 Werder Bremen II (A) 18 9 3 6 41:26 +15 30 6 Goslarer SC 08 (N) 18 8 3 7 36:32 +4 27 7 VfR Neumünster (N) 19 8 3 8 20:30 -10 27 8 BSV SW Rehden (N) 17 7 4 6 30:27 +3 25 9 ETSV Weiche Flensburg (N) 17 7 2 8 20:26 -6 23 10 VfB Oldenburg (N) 18 5 7 6 22:24 -2 22 11 BV Cloppenburg (N) 18 5 6 7 38:44 -6 21 12 SV Meppen 18 6 2 10 26:34 -8 20 13 Hamburger SV II 19 5 4 10 25:34 -9 19 14 FC St. Pauli II 18 5 4 9 21:43 -22 19 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 VfB Lübeck 18 5 3 10 12:24 -12 18 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 SV Wilhelmshaven 18 6 4 8 21:28 -7 16 17 Victoria Hamburg (N) 18 4 3 11 22:42 -20 15 18 FC Oberneuland (N) 17 3 3 11 18:33 -15 12 Champion goes to 3.Liga playoffs. Bottom 3 are relegated, a fourth depending on outcomes. Wilhelmshaven is deducted 6 points for infractions. Regionalliga Nordost 1 RasenBallsport Leipzig 14 11 3 0 35:11 +24 36 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Carl Zeiss Jena (A) 15 8 6 1 21:9 +12 30 3 FSV Zwickau (N) 13 7 4 2 22:5 +17 25 4 ZFC Meuselwitz 14 7 2 5 13:17 -4 23 5 1. FC Magdeburg 14 6 4 4 19:16 +3 22 6 Berliner AK 07 14 4 9 1 12:7 +5 21 7 Germania Halberstadt 14 5 5 4 14:18 -4 20 8 VfB Auerbach (N) 13 4 4 5 19:17 +2 16 9 TSG Neustrelitz (N) 13 4 4 5 13:13 0 16 10 Optik Rathenow (N) 13 4 3 6 17:21 -4 15 11 Hertha BSC II 13 3 4 6 15:16 -1 13 12 1. FC Union Berlin II (N) 13 2 7 4 13:18 -5 13 13 1. FC Lok Leipzig (N) 14 4 1 9 11:20 -9 13 14 VFC Plauen 13 2 6 5 12:18 -6 12 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Energie Cottbus II 14 1 7 6 15:23 -8 10 16 Torgelower SV Greif (N) 14 1 3 10 9:31 -22 6 Champion to 3.Liga playoff, bottom two relegated. Regionalliga West 1 Sportfreunde Lotte 21 13 5 3 39:19 +20 44 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 FC Schalke 04 II 21 13 5 3 36:17 +19 44 3 FC Viktoria Köln (N) 20 13 4 3 49:26 +23 43 4 Fortuna Köln 20 13 3 4 39:17 +22 42 5 Rot-Weiss Essen 21 12 6 3 37:27 +10 42 6 Sportfreunde Siegen (N) 20 11 4 5 35:18 +17 37 7 Wuppertaler SV 20 7 8 5 32:27 +5 29 8 SC Verl 21 7 7 7 40:32 +8 28 9 1. FC Köln II 20 7 6 7 35:33 +2 27 10 SC Wiedenbrück 2000 21 7 5 9 31:34 -3 26 11 VfL Bochum II 19 7 3 9 21:26 -5 24 12 Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (A) 21 7 2 12 30:40 -10 23 13 Bayer Leverkusen II 21 6 4 11 26:34 -8 22 14 SSVg Velbert (N) 20 6 4 10 20:33 -13 22 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Borussia M'gladbach II 20 6 3 11 23:33 -10 21 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 SV Bergisch Gladbach 09 (N) 20 6 3 11 20:40 -20 21 17 MSV Duisburg II (N) 19 4 7 8 20:27 -7 19 18 FC Kray (N) 21 5 2 14 20:42 -22 17 19 VfB Hüls (N) 19 4 4 11 19:36 -17 16 20 Fortuna Düsseldorf II 19 3 5 11 20:31 -11 14 Champion to 3.Liga playoff. Bottom five relegated, 15th based on outcomes. The league shrinks to 18 clubs next season. Regionalliga Südwest 1 SV Elversberg 17 12 2 3 35:20 +15 38 2 Hessen Kassel 19 10 6 3 31:20 +11 33 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 1899 Hoffenheim II 19 9 7 3 40:18 +22 34 4 Eintracht Trier 19 9 6 4 30:21 +9 33 5 Waldhof Mannheim 19 10 3 6 29:20 +9 33 6 SG Sonnenhof Großaspach 19 7 8 4 32:16 +16 29 7 1. FC Kaiserslautern II 19 7 7 5 26:28 -2 28 8 TuS Koblenz 19 7 6 6 24:23 +1 27 9 SC Freiburg II 19 6 7 6 27:28 -1 25 10 FC 08 Homburg (N) 19 8 1 10 28:37 -9 25 11 SSV Ulm 1846 Fußball (N) 19 7 3 9 25:24 +1 24 12 Wormatia Worms 19 5 9 5 24:26 -2 24 13 SC Idar-Oberstein 19 5 8 6 21:21 0 23 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 1. FC Eschborn (N) 19 5 5 9 20:28 -8 20 15 1. FSV Mainz 05 II 19 4 7 8 27:33 -6 19 16 SC Pfullendorf 19 4 7 8 19:25 -6 19 17 FSV Frankfurt II 19 5 3 11 17:33 -16 18 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 Bayern Alzenau 19 3 7 9 22:40 -18 16 19 Eintracht Frankfurt II 18 4 2 12 19:35 -16 14 Champion and runner up to 3.Liga playoff. Bottom two relegated. 14th-17th can be relegated depending on outcomes. Regionalliga Bayern 1 FV Illertissen (N) 23 13 6 4 48:26 +22 45 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 TSV Buchbach (N) 23 12 4 7 45:33 +12 40 3 SV Seligenporten (N) 23 12 2 9 42:36 +6 38 4 Bayern München II 24 9 10 5 33:19 +14 37 5 1. FC Nürnberg II 22 11 4 7 34:26 +8 37 6 1860 München II 21 11 3 7 38:27 +11 36 7 SV Heimstetten (N) 21 8 10 3 31:24 +7 34 8 FC Ingolstadt 04 II 23 9 6 8 45:35 +10 33 9 Würzburger Kickers (N) 23 9 6 8 40:47 -7 33 10 TSV 1860 Rosenheim (N) 23 10 3 10 21:29 -8 33 11 TSV Rain/Lech (N) 23 10 2 11 33:39 -6 32 12 SpVgg Greuther Fürth II 23 8 7 8 31:36 -5 31 13 FC Ismaning (N) 22 7 9 6 31:21 +10 30 14 FC Memmingen 22 7 7 8 22:24 -2 28 15 Viktoria Aschaffenburg (N) 22 8 3 11 32:47 -15 27 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 SC Eltersdorf (N) 23 7 5 11 35:44 -9 26 17 FC Augsburg II (N) 23 6 6 11 39:41 -2 24 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 18 FC Eintracht Bamberg (N) 22 6 6 10 28:42 -14 24 19 VfL Frohnlach (N) 23 3 8 12 22:40 -18 17 20 SpVgg Bayern Hof (N) 21 3 5 13 16:30 -14 14 Champion in 3.Liga playoff. Bottom three relegated, 16th-17th in relegation playoff.
Great work. I’ve always wondered whether the influx of the U23 teams overly influenced the league make up. A few years ago some of the Regionaliga’s had near on 50% of the teams consist of U23’s, which as you said, affects attendances. But the new structure has only 27 out of 93 teams, which is a little under 30%. The balance is probably right.