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 German state association, the Regionalliga is currently a level 4 division of the German football league system. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga Nordost, Regionalliga Nord and the Regionalliga Südwest.

League history

Formation

The league came into existence in August 2008 and was formed from the five Regionalliga clubs in its region which did not achieve admittance to the new 3rd Liga and thirteen Oberliga clubs. The number of clubs in the new league was set at eighteen. Along with the formation of this league there was a merger of the Oberligas below it, with Nordrhein and Westfalen forming the new NRW-Liga, while the Oberliga Südwest remained independent.
With the inception of the new Regionalliga West in 2008, there were now three Regionalligas which form the fourth tier of the German football league system, these were:
The league covered the same region, as the now defunct Regionalliga West/Südwest did from 1994 to 2000. It also shares its name with the "old" Regionalliga West, which operated from 1963 to 1974, but this league only covered the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 2008–09, with BV Cloppenburg, it included a club from Lower Saxony, while in 2009–10, with Waldhof Mannheim, a club from Baden-Württemberg played in the league. This moving-around of clubs was done to balance out the three Regionalligas in numbers. In 2010–11, in turn, Wormatia Worms, a club nominally belonging to the West, played in the South.

2008–09 season

In its first season, the league was won by the reserve team of Borussia Dortmund, which finished three points ahead of the reserve side of the 1. FC Kaiserslautern. The best non-reserve side in the league was the Preußen Münster, finishing fourth, 15 points clear of the champion. At the bottom of the table, 1. FC Kleve and BV Cloppenburg suffered relegation, while 16th placed Wormatia Worms was spared because FSV Oggersheim, in 12th place, did not apply for a licence for the next season. The league had an average number of 1,372 spectators by game, with Rot-Weiss Essen with 7,077 per game by far the best supported club in the league. Second in this ranking was Preußen Münster with 3,649 spectators per game while the reserve side of Bayer Leverkusen came last in this ranking, attracting only 247 spectators per home game.
Sascha Mölders of Rot-Weiss Essen was by far the best scorer in the league scoring 28 times during the season, nine times more than the second-best, Christopher Kullmann.
The reserve team of Fortuna Düsseldorf, 1. FC Saarbrücken and Bonner SC were promoted to the league for the following season, while Waldhof Mannheim crossed over from the southern division to the west.

2009–10 season

The second edition of the competition was won by the 1. FC Saarbrücken, a club freshly promoted from the Oberliga who had played in the Bundesliga in the past but fallen down the ranks in the league system. 1. FCS beat Sportfreunde Lotte by eight points to the top spot. At the bottom end, Eintracht Trier and Wormatia Worms, two clubs from Rhineland-Palatinate, were in 17th and 18th spot with a clear gap to a non-relegation rank, while 16th placed Borussia Mönchengladbach reserves was on equal points with no less than four other clubs. All three however were spared from relegation.
The top goal scorers in the second season of the league were Ercan Aydogmus and Christian Knappmann, having both scored 16 goals each.
At the end of the 2009–10 season, Rot-Weiss Essen, Waldhof Mannheim and Bonner SC were all refused a Regionalliga licence and relegated. This meant, the three last-placed teams in the league that season were after all reprieved and not relegated. For Rot-Weiss Essen this was especially bitter, having been the best-supported club in the league for the second year running, with 5,955 spectators per home game. The gap to the second best supported team however, the 1. FC Saarbrücken, was not as wide as in the previous year, Saarbrücken attracting 4,796 spectators a game. Bayer Leverkusen II was once more the least-best supported team but managed to raise its average to 401 spectators by game. Overall, support for the league in its second yearwent up.
The teams promoted from the Oberliga at the end of the season were FC 08 Homburg, SC Wiedenbrück and the reserves of Arminia Bielefeld. The reserves of Borussia Dortmund, 2009 champions, and the Wuppertaler SV were relegated from the 3rd Liga to the Regionalliga. Wormatia Worms had left the league for the southern division to avoid an uneven number of teams between the three Regionalligas after two of the three 3rd Liga outgoers had been from the west.

2010–11 season

The 2010–11 season saw the league feature thirteen clubs from North Rhine-Westphalia, of which eight are from Westphalia. Of the other five, two were from the Saarland while the remaining three were from Rhineland-Palatinate. Unlike the previous two seasons, no club from outside those three states competes in the league this year.
It also featured a record ten reserve teams, leaving only eight first teams in the league.
The league was won by Preußen Münster, who finished with a ten-point gap to second-placed Eintracht Trier.

Since 2012

In October 2010, another reform of the Regionalligas was decided upon. The number of leagues was now expanded to five, with the Regionalliga West losing clubs from the Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate. The new system came into operation with the start of the 2012–13 season. It was also decided to limit the number of reserve teams per Regionalliga to seven. The later however is planned to be achieved through the shifting of clubs between leagues rather than restricting the overall number of reserve teams.
As four teams were relegated from the 3rd Liga starting at the end of the 2018–19 season, the Regionalliga West champions, along with their counterparts from the Nordost and Südwest, were promoted directly to the 3rd Liga. The West was chosen by a draw. The remaining two champions also determined by the same draw, from the Regionalliga Nord and Bayern, played a two-legged promotion play-off for the last promotion spot. In 2020, the three direct promotion spots will go to the Südwest champions and the champions of the two leagues that participated in the promotion play-off in the previous season, while the Nordost and West champions participate in the play-off. This format was initially installed as a temporary solution until the DFB-Bundestag in September 2019 decided on a format that could have enabled all Regionalliga champions to be promoted. On that date, the Bundestag delegates voted to grant the Südwest and West champions two direct promotions indefinitely starting in 2021. A third direct promotion place will be assigned according to a rotation principle among the Regionalliga Nord, Nordost and Bavarian champions. The representatives from the remaining two Regionalligen will determine the fourth promoted club in two-legged playoffs.

Foundation clubs of the Regionalliga West

The Regionalliga West was formed in 2008 with 18 clubs, five from the two Regionalligas, four each from the Oberligas Südwest, Nordrhein and Westfalen and one from the Oberliga Nord.
The founding members were:
From the Regionalliga Nord:
From the Regionalliga Süd:
From the Oberliga Nordrhein:
From the Oberliga Westfalen:
From the Oberliga Südwest:
From the Oberliga Nord:
The winners and runners-up of the league are:
SeasonWinnerRunner-up
2008–09Borussia Dortmund II1. FC Kaiserslautern II
2009–101. FC SaarbrückenSportfreunde Lotte
2010–11Preußen MünsterEintracht Trier
2011–12Borussia Dortmund IISportfreunde Lotte
2012–13Sportfreunde LotteFortuna Köln
2013–14Fortuna KölnSportfreunde Lotte
2014–15Borussia Mönchengladbach IIAlemannia Aachen
2015–16Sportfreunde LotteBorussia Mönchengladbach II
2016–17Viktoria KölnBorussia Dortmund II
2017–18KFC Uerdingen 05Viktoria Köln
2018–19Viktoria KölnRot-Weiß Oberhausen
2019–20SV RödinghausenSC Verl

The top goal scorers and spectator statistics for the league are:
SeasonOverall
Spectators		Per gameBest supported ClubSpectators
/game		Top goal scorerGoals
2008–09419,8711,372Rot-Weiss Essen7,077Sascha Mölders 28
2009–10510,6631,669Rot-Weiss Essen5,955Ercan Aydogmus
Christian Knappmann 		16
2010–11305,8901,000Preußen Münster5,640Robert Mainka 18
2011–12381,6891,116Rot-Weiss Essen6,814Christian Knappmann 30
2012–13455,2071,198Rot-Weiss Essen8,008Sven Michel 20
2013–14561,1691,641Rot-Weiss Essen7,864Aziz Bouhaddouz 24
2014–15587,6061,920Alemannia Aachen10,724Jesse Weißenfels 20
2015–16521,0171,523Alemannia Aachen7,951Marlon Ritter 23
2016–17555,6711,816Rot-Weiss Essen7,865Mike Wunderlich 29
2017–18502,3191,642Rot-Weiss Essen6,833Marius Bülter
Christopher Kramer 		20
2018–19474,4021,550Rot-Weiss Essen7,259Simon Engelmann 19
2019–20409,2521,819Rot-Weiss Essen10,945Simon Engelmann 26

League placings

Current extent of league

Final league positions for clubs from the region currently covered by the league:
Club09101112131415161718192021
Preußen Münster4613L3L3L3L3L3L3L3L3Lx
KFC Uerdingen 05171513L3L3L
Viktoria Köln64331213L3L
SV Rödinghausen81410531x
SC Verl89910101179138723L
Rot-Weiss Essen7584951251083x
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen2B2B2B3L83454924x
1. FC Köln II34761612101561495x
Alemannia Aachen2B2B2B2B3L13277666x
Sportfreunde Lotte1023212613L3L3L7x
Borussia Mönchengladbach II61653771231248x
Borussia Dortmund II13L613L3L3L42459x
Fortuna Köln7213L3L3L3L3L10x
Fortuna Düsseldorf II11161912109612151211x
Schalke 04 II151211113611101612x
Wuppertaler SV3L3L85151131013x
Bonner SC109131414x
TuS Haltern15
SV Lippstadt 08181316x
SV Bergisch Gladbach 091817x
VfB Homberg18x
Wattenscheid 09151388111119
SC Wiedenbrück1015916121114717x
1. FC Kaan-Marienborn15
SV Straelen16x
TV Herkenrath18
FC Wegberg-Beeck1916x
TuS Erndtebrück1717
Westfalia Rhynern18
Rot-Weiss Ahlen2B2B3L1315x
TSG Sprockhövel17
Sportfreunde Siegen551718
SSVg Velbert131916
FC Kray201418
VfL Bochum II1431414141416
FC Hennef 0518
Bayer Leverkusen II9131518118
VfB Hüls17
MSV Duisburg II19
Arminia Bielefeld II18
1. FC Kleve18

Former extent of league

Final league positions for clubs from the regions formerly covered by the league:
Club09101112131415161718192021
Mainz 05 II5151312RLRL3L3L3LRLRLRLRL
1. FC Saarbrücken13L3L3L3LRLRLRLRLRLRL3L
SV Elversberg1171213RL3LRLRLRLRLRLRLRL
Wormatia Worms1617RLRLRLRLRLRLRLRLRL
FC 08 Homburg17RLRLRLRLRLRLRLRL
Waldhof Mannheim14RLRLRLRLRLRLRL3L3L
TuS Koblenz2B2B3L17RLRLRLRLRL
Eintracht Trier131824RLRLRLRLRL
1. FC Kaiserslautern II2849RLRLRLRLRL
BV Cloppenburg17RLRLRLRL
SC Idar-Oberstein16RL
FSV Oggersheim12

Key