Under 19 Bundesliga


The Under 19 Bundesliga is the highest level in German Under 19 football. It was created in 2003 and is divided in three divisions with 14 teams each. The winner of each divisions and the second-placed team from the Süd/Südwest division join the play-offs for the German U19 champions.
The forerunner of the Under 19 Bundesliga was the A-Jugend-Regionalliga. In the summer of 2003 the divisions North and Northeast as well as South and Southwest were merged, the division West was simply renamed. The intent was to make youth football more competitive.

History

The league was formed in 2003, when the five U 19 Regionalligas merged to form the three Bundesligas as follows:
The Regionalligas itself had only been formed in 1996, to replace an even more regionalised system with separate leagues for every regional football association. Originally, the DFB planned to organise the league in two regional divisions but was eventually forced to operate with three.
In 2007, the German Football Association followed this example reorganised the under 17 Regionalligas in the same fashion, forming the Under 17 Bundesliga.

Mode

The clubs in each of the three divisions play a home-and-away round whereby there is no inter-league play. Every club plays therefore 26 regular season games. The bottom three teams in each division are relegated to the next level below, in turn, the best three teams from the region are promoted.
The winner of each league plus the runners-up of the South/Southwest region play in the finals round for the German Under 19 championship. The semi-finals are played in a home-and-away format. If the two semi-final teams playing each other are level on points and goals after the second game, there will be a penalty shoot-out. No extra time will be played.
The two semi-final winners reach the final, which is held at the location of the winner of the predetermined semi-final A, unless the team's stadium does not comply with DFB requirement, in which case an alternative venue will be determined. In the final, which is one game only, in case of a draw after normal time, a 20-minute extra time will be played. If the game is still a draw, a penalty shoot-out will determine the winner.

Geography

The three Bundesligas are not geographically balanced, North/Northeast covers a large area while West a rather small one, but in population termes, the arrangement is much more level. The three leagues cover the following states:
Below the three Bundesligas, a number of second tier leagues exist which teams are promoted from and relegated to. The league system operates as follows for the 2008–09 season.

Under 19 Bundesliga North/Northeast

The league has two second divisions as the tier below, these being:
The league champions are directly promoted while the two runners-ups play each other for a third promotion spot

Under 19 Bundesliga South/Southwest

The league has four second divisions as the tier below, these being:
The winners of the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg and Bayernliga are directly promoted. A third promoted team is determined between the winners of the Hessenliga and the Regionalliga Southwest.

Under 19 Bundesliga West

The league has three second divisions as the tier below, these being:
The three league champions are directly promoted.

Levels of youth football

German football recognises seven levels of junior football, determined by age and labeled with letters, whereby A is the oldest. In the A level, mixed teams of male and females are not permitted while in B and C mixed teams are allowed if the parents or guardians of the children permit it. Below the C level, mixed teams are generally permitted without restrictions.
NameAge
A-JuniorenUnder 19
B-JuniorenUnder 17
C-JuniorenUnder 15
D-JuniorenUnder 13
E-JuniorenUnder 11
F-JuniorenUnder 9
G-Junioren1Under 7

1

Division champions

The champions of the three regional divisions:
SeasonNorth/NortheastSouth/SouthwestWest
2003–04Hannover 96FC Bayern MunichVfL Bochum
2004–05Hertha BSC BerlinVfB StuttgartVfL Bochum
2005–06Hertha BSC BerlinSC FreiburgFC Schalke 04
2006–07Werder BremenFC Bayern MunichBayer Leverkusen
2007–08VfL WolfsburgVfB Stuttgart1. FC Köln
2008–09Werder BremenSC FreiburgBorussia Dortmund
2009–10F.C. Hansa RostockVfB StuttgartBayer Leverkusen
2010–11VfL Wolfsburg1. FC KaiserslauternBayer Leverkusen
2011–12VfL WolfsburgFC Bayern MunichFC Schalke 04
2012–13VfL WolfsburgFC Bayern MunichFC Schalke 04
2013–14VfL Wolfsburg1899 HoffenheimFC Schalke 04
2014–15RB Leipzig1899 HoffenheimFC Schalke 04
2015–16Werder Bremen1899 HoffenheimBorussia Dortmund
2016–17VfL WolfsburgFC Bayern MunichBorussia Dortmund
2017–18Hertha BSC Berlin1899 HoffenheimFC Schalke 04
2018–19VfL WolfsburgVfB StuttgartFC Schalke 04

Championship winners

The German under 19 football championship begun in 1969.

Pre-Bundesliga era

Bundesliga era

As of 2019, this is the standing in the all-time winners list:
ClubChampionshipsFinals
VfB Stuttgart1016
Borussia Dortmund89
FC Schalke 0447
Bayer Leverkusen39
FC Bayern Munich38
Eintracht Frankfurt34
MSV Duisburg33
VfL Wolfsburg23
1. FC Kaiserslautern15
1. FC Nürnberg15
1. FC Köln14
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim13
Werder Bremen13
Hertha Zehlendorf13
VfL Bochum13
Waldhof Mannheim12
F.C. Hansa Rostock11
FSV Mainz 0511
SC Freiburg11
FC Augsburg11
Bayer Uerdingen11
Stuttgarter Kickers11
Hertha BSC Berlin10
Hannover 9601
TSV 1860 Munich01
Rot-Weiß Essen01
Kickers Offenbach01
TuS Altrip01
1. FC Saarbrücken01

The clubs and their league finishes in the Under 19 Bundesliga since 2003–04. Also shown are the final placing of the qualifying season 2002–03 and the Regionalliga or region, in color, the clubs qualified from:

North/Northeast

South/Southwest

West

Key

Region of origin
North
Northeast
South
Southwest
West

Top scorers

The league's top scorers since the 2007–08 season:

North/Northeast

The top scorers of the North/Northeast division:
SeasonPlayerClubGoals
2007–08 Deniz Aycicek Carsten KammlottHannover 96 Rot-Weiß Erfurt17
2008–09 Pascal TestroetWerder Bremen15
2009–10 Mario PetryVfL Wolfsburg22
2010–11 Gerrit WegkampVfL Osnabrück20
2011–12 Kai Druschky Philip Hauck Kevin Zschimmer1. FC Union Berlin VfL Wolfsburg Hallescher FC16
2012–13 Federico Palacios MartínezVfL Wolfsburg16
2013–14 Federico Palacios MartínezVfL Wolfsburg29
2014–15 Nico EmpenFC St. Pauli26
2015–16 Johannes EggesteinWerder Bremen33
2016–17 Utku SenHolstein Kiel21
2017–18 Muhammed KipritHertha BSC Berlin23
2017–18 Jessic NgankamHertha BSC Berlin25

South/Southwest

The top scorers of the South/Southwest division:
SeasonPlayerClubGoals
2007–08 Rahman SoyudogruSC Freiburg21
2008–09 Robin Mertinitz Hüseyin Pala1. FSV Mainz 05 VfB Stuttgart16
2009–10 Markus ZiereisTSV 1860 München19
2010–11 Julian Wießmeier1. FC Nürnberg18
2011–12 Bastian FischerSpVgg Unterhaching16
2012–13 Timo WernerVfB Stuttgart24
2013–14 Adrian GrbicVfB Stuttgart16
2014–15 Joshua Mees1899 Hoffenheim20
2015–16 Moritz Heinrich Meris SkenderovićTSV 1860 München 1899 Hoffenheim19
2016–17 Valdrin Mustafa1. FC Kaiserslautern17
2017–18 Manuel WintzheimerFC Bayern Munich26
2018–19 Malik BatmazKarlsruher SC18

West

The top scorers of the West division:
SeasonPlayerClubGoals
2007–08 Marco SchneiderBorussia Dortmund20
2008–09 Tolgay ArslanBorussia Dortmund31
2009–10 Pierre-Michel LasoggaBayer Leverkusen25
2010–11 Cebio Soukou Tobias SteffenVfL Bochum Bayer Leverkusen16
2011–12 Samed YeşilBayer Leverkusen19
2012–13 Tammo HarderFC Schalke 0420
2013–14 Lucas CuetoBonner SC/1. FC Köln18
2014–15 Marc BrašnićBayer Leverkusen27
2015–16 Cagatay Kader Jannik MauseVfL Bochum 1. FC Köln20
2016–17 Jacob Bruun LarsenBorussia Dortmund20
2017–18 Justin SteinkötterBorussia Mönchengladbach20
2018–19 Darko Churlinov Ömer Uzun1. FC Köln VfL Bochum18