Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar

The Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar, formerly the Oberliga Südwest, is the highest regional football league for the Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland states of Germany, organized by the Southwestern Regional Football Association. It is the fifth tier of the German football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the fourth tier of the league system; before the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 the third tier.

Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar

Organising body	Southwestern Regional Football Association
Founded	1978
Country	Germany
States	Rhineland-Palatinate Saarland
Number of teams	22 (North and South; 11 teams each)
Level on pyramid	Level 5
Promotion to	Regionalliga Südwest
Relegation to	Saarlandliga Rheinlandliga Verbandsliga Südwest
Domestic cup(s)	Rhineland Cup Saarland Cup Southwestern Cup
Current champions	Wormatia Worms (2021–22)

From January 1946 up until the creation of the Bundesliga in 1963, the Oberliga Südwest was one of the five highest divisions in Germany. The current league originates from 1978.

History

The Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar is one of fourteen Oberligas in Germany. The league is a combination of the regional Rhineland, Saarland and Southwest Football Associations, the next league up is Regionalliga Südwest. It was formed in 1978 out of the top teams of the Amateurligas Rheinland, Saarland and Südwest. Until 2008, when the 3. Liga was introduced, the Oberliga was the fourth tier of the league system.

From 2012 onwards, the league became a feeder league to the new Regionalliga Südwest, together with the Hessenliga and the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg. The previous league the Oberliga Südwest was set below at, the Regionalliga West, from then on only accommodate clubs from Northrhine-Westphalia.^[1]

At the end of the 2011–12 season the league was also renamed from Oberliga Südwest to Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar, with Oddset being the official name sponsor of the league.^[2]

Rules

Nominally 18 teams compete for the Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar title. Teams play each other twice, once at home and once away. At the end of the season the champion used to be promoted into either the Regionalliga Süd or the Regionalliga Nord, later the Regionalliga West, depending on their geographical location. From 2008, the league winner was promoted to the Regionalliga West. In the 2007–08 season, the teams finishing from 2nd to 4th were also be promoted.

If the team that wins the league or is on a promotion spot at the end of the season fails to have the correct license then the team who finishes next would be promoted instead of them.

Teams promoted to the new Regionalliga in 2008:

• 1. FSV Mainz 05 II
• 1. FC Kaiserslautern II
• Wormatia Worms
• Eintracht Trier

Promotion

The winner of the Oberliga Südwest was originally directly promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga Süd. After introduction of the unified 2nd Bundesliga in 1981, the champion had to take part in a promotion play-off. With the introduction of the Regionalliga in 1994 the league winners were again directly promoted. However, this league was demoted to fourth tier of German football after 2008.

Relegation

The bottom three clubs of the Oberliga will be relegated to the Verbandsliga of their football association (Verband). These are:

• Verbandsliga Südwest
• Saarlandliga
• Rheinlandliga

In turn, the Verbandsliga champions will gain entry to the Oberliga. In more recent history the runners-up of the three Verbandsligas were given the opportunity to compete in a promotion round for one more spot in the Oberliga in the following season.

Previous winners

The league champions:

Season Club 1978–79 Röchling Völklingen 1979–80 Borussia Neunkirchen 1980–81 1. FSV Mainz 05 1981–82 FC Homburg 1982–83 1. FC Saarbrücken 1983–84 FC Homburg 1984–85 FSV Salmrohr 1985–86 Wormatia Worms 1986–87 Eintracht Trier 1987–88 1. FSV Mainz 05 1988–89 SV Edenkoben 1989–90 1. FSV Mainz 05 1990–91 Borussia Neunkirchen 1991–92 FSV Salmrohr 1992–93 Eintracht Trier 1993–94 Eintracht Trier 1994–95 1. FC Kaiserslautern II 1995–96 SV Elversberg 1996–97 1. FC Kaiserslautern II 1997–98 SV Elversberg 1998–99 FK Pirmasens 1999–2000 Borussia Neunkirchen

Season Club 2000–01 1. FC Kaiserslautern II 2001–02 Borussia Neunkirchen 2002–03 1. FSV Mainz 05 II 2003–04 TuS Koblenz 2004–05 Borussia Neunkirchen 2005–06 FK Pirmasens 2006–07 FSV Oggersheim 2007–08 1. FSV Mainz 05 II 2008–09 1. FC Saarbrücken 2009–10 FC 08 Homburg 2010–11 SC Idar-Oberstein 2011–12 FC 08 Homburg 2012–13 SVN Zweibrücken 2013–14 FK Pirmasens 2014–15 Saar 05 Saarbrücken 2015–16 TuS Koblenz 2016–17 TSV Schott Mainz 2017–18 FC 08 Homburg 2018–19 TuS Rot-Weiß Koblenz 2019–20 TSV Schott Mainz 2020–21 None; season curtailed 2021–22 Wormatia Worms

Source: "Oberliga SW". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 7 March 2008.

League placings

Main article: List of clubs in the Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar

The complete list of clubs and placings in the league while operating as the tier five Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar and feeding the Regionalliga Südwest (2012–present):

Club 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 23 FC 08 Homburg R R R R R 1 R R R R FK Pirmasens 8 1 R R R 2 R R R x TuS/FC Rot-Weiß Koblenz 5 7 1 R R R TSV Schott Mainz 6 13 1 R 7 1 R x Wormatia Worms R R R R R R R 7 1 R SV Eintracht Trier 05 R R R R R 4 6 5 2 R Arminia Ludwigshafen 6 4 11 12 16 13 14 3 x FC Hertha Wiesbach 8 10 5 3 8 10 13 4 x FV Dudenhofen 14 6 5 x FV Engers 07 13 5 11 6 x SV Gonsenheim 14 9 4 11 9 15 8 7 x SV Alemannia Waldalgesheim 17 8 x FV Diefflen 16 10 5 14 9 9 x FC Karbach 3 6 10 12 15 10 x TuS Mechtersheim 7 13 15 4 9 8 16 11 x TuS Koblenz 1 R R 1 R R 4 4 12 x TSG Pfeddersheim 11 7 3 6 11 12 3 10 13 x 1. FC Kaiserslautern II R R R R R 3 9 2 14 x Eisbachtaler Sportfreunde 18 15 x SV Elversberg II 15 5 9 16 3 16 x SG 2000 Mülheim-Karlich 17 x FSV Jägersburg 8 14 6 15 18 x FSV Salmrohr 2 2 7 9 15 17 19 FV Eppelborn 19 20 BFV Hassia Bingen 11 17 21 TSV Emmelshausen 16 22 FC Speyer 09 23 SV Röchling Völklingen 10 14 5 7 2 R 2 12 24 SC Idar-Oberstein R 6 14 11 17 VfB Dillingen 18 SV Morlautern 12 16 x SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken 1 R 7 18 FK Pirmasens II 15 8 SC Hauenstein 3 3 2 2 13 Borussia Neunkirchen 5 15 12 4 17 SpVgg Burgbrohl 10 13 14 18 SpVgg EGC Wirges 16 8 10 SV Mehring 13 16 17 SVN Zweibrücken 1 R R 18 1. FC Saarbrücken II 4 11 17 SG Betzdorf 9 12 18 SV Roßbach/Verscheid 12 18 SC Halberg-Brebach 17 Sportfreunde Köllerbach 18 Ahrweiler BC x SV Auersmacher x TuS Kirchberg x

Northern club 21 SV Eintracht Trier 05 1 1. FC Kaiserslautern II 2 BFV Hassia Bingen 3 Alemannia Waldalgesheim 4 TuS Koblenz 5 SV Gonsenheim 6 FV Engers 07 7 SG 2000 Mülheim-Karlich 8 FC Karbach 9 FSV Salmrohr 10 Eisbachtaler Spfr. 11 TSV Emmelshausen 12 Southern club 21 Wormatia Worms 1 FV Dudenhofen 2 FV Diefflen 3 Arminia Ludwigshafen 4 FSV Jägersburg 5 SV Elversberg II 6 SV Röchling Völklingen 7 TSG Pfeddersheim 8 FC Hertha Wiesbach 9 FC Speyer 09 10 TuS Mechtersheim 11 FV Eppelborn 12

Key

Symbol	Key
B	Bundesliga (1963–present)
2B	2. Bundesliga (1974–present)
3L	3. Liga (2008–present)
R	Regionalliga West/Südwest (1994–2000) Regionalliga Süd (2000–2008) Regionalliga West (2008–2012) Regionalliga Südwest (2012–present)
1	League champions
Place	League
Blank	Played at a league level below this league

References

1. "DFB-Bundestag beschließt Reform der Spielklassen" (in German). DFB. 22 October 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
2. "FRV Südwest gratuliert dem Oberliga-Meister". frv-suedwest.de (in German). 30 May 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.

Sources

• Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen, (in German) An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga. DSFS.
• Kicker Almanach, (in German) The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937. Kicker Sports Magazine.
• Süddeutschlands Fußballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897-1988 (in German) History of Southern German football in tables, by Ludolf Hyll
• Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945-2005 (in German) History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables. DSFS. 2006.

External links

• Das deutsche Fussball Archiv (in German) Historic German league tables
• (in German) Round-by-round results and tables of the Oberliga Südwest from 1994 onwards
• The Southwest Football Association (SWFV) (in German)