American football Regionalliga

American football Regionalliga
Sport American football
Founded 1985
No. of teams 32
Country  Germany
Most recent champion(s)

North: Ritterhude Badgers

East: Rostock Griffins

West: Assindia Cardinals

Central: Ravensburg Razorbacks

South: Straubing Spiders

The American football Regionalliga is the third tier of American football in Germany, below the German Football League and the German Football League 2.[1]

The league is subdivided into five regional divisions, the Regionalligas (English: Regional league) Nord (North), Ost (East), West, Mitte (Central) and Süd (South).[2]

History

The league was formed in 1985 with two regional divisions, Central and West. The number of divisions changed frequently in the following years, as did the name of the league, changing to Verbandsliga for a time. From 1991 it operated under name of Regionalliga again with seven divisions, one in the North and two each in the West, Central and Bavaria. From 1995 the league was reduced to four divisions, South, West, Central and Northeast, a format that remained unchanged until 2004 when the Northeast division was split into North and East divisions. Since 2004 the Regionalliga operates in the current five division format.[3]

Organisation

The five Regionalligas are organised by the regional American football associations rather than the American Football Association of Germany, like the Regionalliga Süd which is organised by the Bavarian one.[4]

In the 2015 season 33 clubs compete in the league, nine in the central division and six each in the other four.[2]

The top teams of the Regionalliga divisions qualify for the play-offs to the German Football League . The division champions and runners-up of the Central and South division play each other home and away for two promotion spots to the southern division of the German Football League 2, whereby the division winner from one plays the runners-up from the other. In the north, the three division winners of the North, West and East division play each other in a single game round robin for two spots in the northern division of the GFL 2. Promotion is subject to licensing approval and can be enlarged if additional spots in the German Football League 2 become available. An overall Regionalliga championship is not played.[3]

The bottom teams from each division are relegated and replaced with the top teams from the tier below, the American football Oberliga.[3]

Division champions

The division champions since adaption of the current structure in 2004:[3]

Northern region

Year North East West
2004 Osnabrück Tigers Berlin Rebels Troisdorf Jets
2005 Osnabrück Tigers Frankfurt Red Cocks Assindia Cardinals
2006 Weyhe Vikings Frankfurt Red Cocks Bonn Gamecocks
2007 Magdeburg Virgin Guards Leipzig Lions Assindia Cardinals
2008 Hildesheim Invaders Magdeburg Virgin Guards Paderborn Dolphins
2009 Hamburg Blue Devils Magdeburg Virgin Guards Mönchengladbach Mavericks
2010 Hamburg Blue Devils Potsdam Royals Troisdorf Jets
2011 Osnabrück Tigers Cottbus Crayfish Bonn Gamecocks
2012 Lübeck Seals Rostock Griffins Bielefeld Bulldogs
2013 Hildesheim Invaders Tollense Sharks Cologne Crocodiles
2014 Osnabrück Tigers Potsdam Royals Paderborn Dolphins
2015 Ritterhude Badgers Rostock Griffins Assindia Cardinals

Southern region

The division champions and runners-up since adaption of the current structure in 2004:[3]

Year Central South
Winners Runners-up Winners Runners-up
2004 Weinheim Longhorns Stuttgart Silver Arrows Königsbrunn Ants Deggendorf Black Hawks
2005 Jena Hanfrieds Obertshausen Blizzards Plattling Black Hawks Rosenheim Rebels
2006 Kaiserslautern Pikes Stuttgart Silver Arrows Aschaffenburg Stallions Franken Timberwolves
2007 Stuttgart Silver Arrows Montabaur Fighting Farmers Erding Bulls Franken Timberwolves
2008 Kaiserslautern Pikes Rhein Neckar Bandits Aschaffenburg Stallions Starnberg Argonauts
2009 Hanau Hornets Holzgerlingen Twister Kirchdorf Wildcats Allgäu Comets
2010 Badener Greifs Frankfurt Pirates Kirchdorf Wildcats Allgäu Comets
2011 Kaiserslautern Pikes Frankfurt Universe Allgäu Comets Nürnberg Rams
2012 Ravensburg Razorbacks Badener Greifs Fursty Razorbacks Starnberg Argonauts
2013 Darmstadt Diamonds Holzgerlingen Twister Straubing Spiders Ingolstadt Dukes
2014 Albertshausen Crusaders Langen Knights Ingolstadt Dukes München Rangers
2015 Ravensburg Razorbacks Gießen Golden Dragons Straubing Spiders Neu-Ulm Spartans

Current clubs

The Regionalliga clubs for the 2016 season:[2]

Regionalliga Nord
Hamburg Pioneers
Arminia Spartans Hannover
Elmshorn Fighting Pirates
Oldenburg Knights
Osnabrück Tigers
New Yorker Lions II

Regionalliga Ost
Berlin Bears
Berlin Rebels II
Cottbus Crayfish
Leipzig Lions
Rostock Griffins
Tollense Sharks

Regionalliga West
Aachen Vampires
Cologne Falcons
Langenfeld Longhorns
Remscheid Ambos
Solingen Paladines
Troisdorf Jets

Regionalliga Mitte
Albertshausen Crusaders
Darmstadt Diamonds
Frankfurt Pirates
Holzgerlingen Twister
Mainz Golden Eagles
Montabaur Fighting Framers
Pforzheim Wilddogs
Weinheim Longhorns

Regionalliga Süd
Burghausen Crusaders
Fursty Razorbacks
Königsbrunn Ants
Landsberg X-press
Neu-Ulm Spartans
Straubing Spiders

References

  1. German Football League 2 (German) AFVD website, accessed: 20 January 2011
  2. 1 2 3 3. Liga 2015 Football-aktuell.de, accessed: 28 April 2015
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Football History (German) Historic American football tables from Germany, accessed: 28 April 2015
  4. Allgemeine Ligenstruktur AFVBy (German) Bavarian American football association – league structure, accessed: 28 April 2015

External links

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