With the main leagues pausing for the World Cup qualifiers, perhaps it’s a good time to take a peek on what’s going on in the 4th division. The Regionalliga are back strong with a somewhat logical organization, which should not only reduce travel costs, but make for some interesting true regional matchups. The main drawback is that it is difficult to get promoted, as the qualifying clubs actually go into a promotion playoff with the qualifiers from the other Regionalligen. Attendance is usually low, although it’s likely to get a few thousand for some of the “traditional” matchups.
REGIONALLIGA NORD
Last year’s champion Holstein Kiel moved up. This year, it looks like the VW-B team will be hard to beat, as they’ve been been slapping the opposition (look at their goal difference). Hard to compete with full pros. (Although oddly enough HSV-II sucks, maybe because their cupboard is bare). A couple of “traditionals”, Oldenburg and Meppen, are doing well. Most of the other clubs aren’t well known.
1 VfL Wolfsburg II 11 8 1 2 35:8 +27 25 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Goslarer SC 08 11 6 3 2 20:11 +9 21 3 VfB Oldenburg 10 6 2 2 24:15 +9 20 4 SV Meppen 11 6 2 3 20:13 +7 20 5 ETSV Weiche Flensburg 11 5 3 3 17:10 +7 18 6 Werder Bremen II 11 5 3 3 23:18 +5 18 7 BSV SW Rehden 11 4 6 1 18:13 +5 18 8 SV Eichede (N) 11 5 1 5 18:22 -4 16 9 TSV Havelse 11 4 3 4 19:20 -1 15 10 Eintracht Norderstedt (N) 11 3 4 4 13:17 -4 13 11 FC St. Pauli II 11 4 1 6 17:23 -6 13 12 SV Wilhelmshaven 11 2 6 3 12:13 -1 12 13 VfR Neumünster 11 3 3 5 12:22 -10 12 14 Hannover 96 II 11 2 5 4 14:18 -4 11 15 BV Cloppenburg 11 2 4 5 18:25 -7 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Hamburger SV II 10 2 3 5 14:18 -4 9 17 Eintr. Braunschweig II (N) 11 1 4 6 8:20 -12 7 18 Victoria Hamburg 11 1 4 6 9:25 -16 7
REGIONALLIGA NORDOST
Here you’ll find ghosts of the old DDR-Oberliga, with legendary names such as Carl Zeiss Jena, Magdeburg, Zwickau and Lok Leipzig. All are on hard times, although perhpas for the first two, they can at least see some light. “AK47” as I like to call them is a relative newcomer to competing in anything but lower divisions of Berlin leagues, but here they are topping the early table. generally this league has a good amount of fan interest because of the well known names and nostalgia.
Also interesting is Viktoria Berlin, fanous during the Kaiser days, but not since. They appeared in the German Finals in 1907, 1908, 1909, winning the title in 1908.
1 Berliner AK 07 9 7 2 0 23:5 +18 23 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 TSG Neustrelitz 9 7 1 1 18:6 +12 22 3 Carl Zeiss Jena 10 5 4 1 18:10 +8 19 4 1. FC Union Berlin II 9 5 3 1 22:13 +9 18 5 1. FC Magdeburg 9 5 1 3 19:12 +7 16 6 Germania Halberstadt 9 5 1 3 15:17 -2 16 7 SV Babelsberg 03 (A) 9 4 1 4 13:12 +1 13 8 FSV Zwickau 10 4 1 5 16:21 -5 13 9 VFC Plauen 9 3 3 3 14:19 -5 12 10 Optik Rathenow 9 3 2 4 9:12 -3 11 11 Viktoria 1889 Berlin (N) 9 1 6 2 8:10 -2 9 12 VfB Auerbach 9 2 3 4 9:17 -8 9 13 Wacker Nordhausen (N) 9 2 1 6 10:14 -4 7 14 ZFC Meuselwitz 9 2 0 7 7:16 -9 6 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 Hertha BSC II 9 1 2 6 8:17 -9 5 16 1. FC Lok Leipzig 9 1 1 7 8:16 -8 4
REGIONALLIGA WEST
The West is alwauys one of the more interesting leagues, and shows the fierce competitive nature of the German leagues. Just look at the ex-Bundesliga clubs: Fortuna Köln, Oberhausen, Essen, Aachen, Wattenscheid and Uerdingen!! Actually, there would have been another, but Wuppertal went into administration and was forcibly relegated before the season started, hence only 19 teams.
The class of the league is Lotte, basically because they’ve got some good sponsorship money, but it a good sign is the return to life of clubs like the Köln sides, and the many attractive matchups.
1 Sportfreunde Lotte (M) 12 8 4 0 27:6 +21 28 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 Fortuna Köln 11 8 1 2 28:11 +17 25 3 FC Viktoria Köln 11 6 5 0 19:8 +11 23 4 FC Schalke 04 II 11 6 4 1 18:6 +12 22 5 Sportfreunde Siegen 11 6 3 2 21:10 +11 21 6 Bor. Mönchengladbach II 12 5 4 3 17:11 +6 19 7 Fortuna Düsseldorf II 11 5 3 3 22:15 +7 18 8 Rot-Weiß Oberhausen 12 5 3 4 12:15 -3 18 9 1. FC Köln II 12 5 2 5 18:17 +1 17 10 Rot-Weiss Essen 12 4 4 4 18:20 -2 16 11 Alemannia Aachen (A) 12 5 0 7 11:19 -8 15 12 SC Verl 11 4 2 5 12:15 -3 14 13 VfL Bochum II 11 4 0 7 10:22 -12 12 14 SG Wattenscheid 09 (N) 11 1 7 3 14:15 -1 10 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 SV Lippstadt 08 (N) 11 2 3 6 12:19 -7 9 16 Bayer 04 Leverkusen II 10 1 5 4 10:17 -7 8 17 KFC Uerdingen 05 (N) 12 3 2 7 10:30 -20 8 18 SSVg Velbert 11 1 2 8 6:18 -12 5 19 SC Wiedenbrück 2000 10 0 2 8 11:26 -15 2
REGIONALLIGA SüDWEST
This is a big one, combing Baden-Württemberg and Hessen, which are traditionally at least two or even three regional federations. As a result, this Regionalliga gets two spots in the promotion playoffs. There is also a decent Bundesliga pedigree: Homburg, Offenbach, Waldhof and Ulm. Leaders Trier have been a regional powerhouse for quite some time, and pulled off notable upsets in the DFB Cup. Interesting matchups abound, but usually they’re smaller cities than in the West or Northeast. Offenbach clearly doesn’t want to be here, but were forced by DFB since they screwed up financially. Kassel is the defending champion, returning because they failed in the promotion playoffs.
1 Eintracht Trier 12 7 4 1 21:8 +13 25 2 1. FSV Mainz 05 II 12 8 0 4 33:19 +14 24 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 SG Sonnenhof Großaspach 12 7 2 3 23:14 +9 23 4 SC Freiburg II 12 6 5 1 17:10 +7 23 5 1. FC Kaiserslautern II 12 5 6 1 22:10 +12 21 6 FC 08 Homburg 12 5 4 3 20:14 +6 19 7 SpVgg Neckarelz (N) 11 5 4 2 20:15 +5 19 8 SVN Zweibrücken (N) 12 5 4 3 12:13 -1 19 9 Hessen Kassel (M) 12 4 5 3 18:20 -2 17 10 Kickers Offenbach (A) 12 5 1 6 12:14 -2 16 11 Eintracht Frankfurt II 12 4 3 5 21:21 0 15 12 TuS Koblenz 12 4 3 5 16:16 0 15 13 Waldhof Mannheim 12 4 3 5 13:20 -7 15 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 14 1899 Hoffenheim II 12 4 0 8 17:20 -3 12 15 Wormatia Worms 12 1 8 3 13:17 -4 11 16 SC Pfullendorf 12 2 1 9 14:31 -17 7 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 SSV Ulm 1846 Fußball 11 1 3 7 12:20 -8 6 18 KSV Baunatal (N) 12 2 0 10 10:32 -22 6
REGIONALLIGA BAYERN
Bavaria is a bit like Texas, everything is bigger, including their heads. But Bayern has enough clubs and geography to get their own division, although it’s probably the least interesting. Most of the teams represent B sides or villages, so you’ve probably never heard of most of them. Only perhaps Bayern Hof has any pedigree, somewhat of a regional powerhouse in the 60s and 70s, with a few attempts at the Bundesliga playoffs. Schweinfurt has also occasionally poked it’s head into the 2nd division. Bayern München II is the strongest side, which is no surprise, given some decent talent that has come out of the giant’s youth teams.
1 Bayern München II 15 13 0 2 46:10 +36 39 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 FV Illertissen 18 11 4 3 40:19 +21 37 3 FC Augsburg II 16 10 3 3 30:13 +17 33 4 1860 München II (M) 17 10 3 4 32:21 +11 33 5 TSV Buchbach 16 9 3 4 31:23 +8 30 6 FC Ingolstadt 04 II 17 7 6 4 31:25 +6 27 7 FC Eintracht Bamberg 2010 16 7 4 5 24:26 -2 25 8 SpVgg Greuther Fürth II 17 7 3 7 31:22 +9 24 9 FC Memmingen 17 6 5 6 27:25 +2 23 10 SV Seligenporten 17 6 5 6 26:30 -4 23 11 1. FC Nürnberg II 17 5 7 5 28:27 +1 22 12 Würzburger Kickers 16 6 3 7 27:24 +3 21 13 TSV 1860 Rosenheim 17 5 4 8 21:24 -3 19 14 SpVgg Bayern Hof 17 5 3 9 19:28 -9 18 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 15 1. FC Schweinfurt 05 (N) 17 4 5 8 24:37 -13 17 16 SV Schalding-Heining (N) 17 4 4 9 24:40 -16 16 -------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 Viktoria Aschaffenburg 17 3 4 10 19:39 -20 13 18 SV Heimstetten 17 2 6 9 19:42 -23 12 19 TSV Rain/Lech 17 0 6 11 17:41 -24 6