The Regionalliga Südwest was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the southwest of West Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2. Bundesliga in 1974. It covered the states of Saarland and Rheinland-Pfalz.

Overview Along with the Regionalliga Südwest went another four Regionalligas, these five formed the second tier of German football until 1974:

Regionalliga Nord, covering the states of Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg Regionalliga West, covering the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen Regionalliga Berlin, covering West-Berlin Regionalliga Süd, covering the states of Bayern, Hessen and Baden-Württemberg

The new Regionalligas were formed along the borders of the old post-World War II Oberligas, not after a balanced regional system. Therefore the Oberligas Berlin and West covered small but populous areas while Nord and Süd covered large areas. Südwest was something of an anachronism, neither large nor populous. It was basically a remainder of the former French occupation zone.

Originally only the winners, later also runners-up of this league were admitted to the promotion play-off to the new Bundesliga, which was staged in two groups of originally four, later five teams each with the winner of each group going up.

The bottom three teams were relegated to the Amateurligas. Below the Regionalliga Südwest were the following Amateurligas:

Amateurliga Saarland Amateurliga Rheinland Amateurliga Südwest

The FSV Mainz 05, VfR Wormatia Worms, FK Pirmasens, SV Röchling Völklingen, Südwest Ludwigshafen and TuS Neuendorf all played every one of the eleven seasons of the Regionalliga Südwest.

Disbanding of the Regionalliga Südwest

The league was dissolved in 1974. According to their performance of the last couple of seasons, seven clubs of the Regionalliga went to the new 2. Bundesliga Süd. The nine remaining clubs were relegated to the Amateurligas.

The teams admitted to the 2. Bundesliga Süd were:

Borussia Neunkirchen 1. FC Saarbrücken FC Homburg SV Röchling Völklingen FSV Mainz 05 VfR Wormatia Worms FK Pirmasens

Relegated clubs:

to the Amateurliga Saarland: VfB Theley, FC Ensdorf to the Amateurliga Rheinland: TuS Neuendorf, Eisbachtaler Sportfreunde to the Amateurliga Südwest: ASV Landau, Eintracht Kreuznach, SV Alsenborn, Südwest Ludwigshafen, FV Speyer

Qualifying to the 2. Bundesliga From the Regionalliga Südwest, seven clubs qualified for the new 2. Bundesliga Süd, together with 13 teams from the Süd region.

The qualifying modus saw the last five seasons counted, whereby the last placed team in each season received one point, the second-last two points and so on. For a Bundesliga season within this five-year period, a club received 25 points, for an Amateurliga season none.

For the seasons 1969–70 and 1970–71, the received points counted single, for the 1971–72 and 1972–73 season double and for the 1973–74 season three times.

To be considered in the points table for the new league, a club had to play either in the Regionalliga Südwest in 1973-74 or to have been relegated from the Bundesliga to it for the next season, something which did not apply to the league that year.

The bottom three clubs in the league, nominally the relegated teams in a normal season, were barred from entry to the 2. Bundesliga, regardless of where they stood in the points ranking.Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik seit 1945 - History of German league football since 1945 publisher: DSFS, published: 2006, page: C3 + C4

Points table: Rank Club Points 1969-74 Place in 1973-74 1 Borussia Neunkirchen 133 1 2 SV Röchling Völklingen 110 4 3 FSV Mainz 05 109 5 4 FK Pirmasens 107 8 5 SV Alsenborn 1 95 10 6 FC 08 Homburg 90 3 7 VfR Wormatia Worms 90 6 8 1. FC Saarbrücken 87 2 9 ASV Landau 82 9 10 Südwest Ludwigshafen 76 11 11 TuS Neuendorf 71 12 12 FV Speyer 43 15 13 Eintracht Bad Kreuznach 30 7 14 VfB Theley 27 13 15 Eisbachtaler Sportfreunde 15 14 16 FC Ensdorf 3 16 Source: DSFS Liga-Chronik , page: C4, accessed: 18 March 2009 Bold teams are promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga. 1 SV Alsenborn was denied the 2nd Bundesliga licence.

Re-creation of the Regionalliga

In 1994, the Regionalligas were reintroduced, this time as the third tier of German Football. The teams from the southwest were however integrated into the new Regionalliga West/Südwest with the clubs from Nordrhein-Westfalen. In 2000, when the number of Regionalligas was reduced from four to two, the south western clubs moved to the Regionalliga Süd. In 2008, with the introduction of the 3. Liga the southwestern clubs will again move, into the new Regionalliga West and again be with the teams from Nordrhein-Westfalen.

Winners and runners-up of the Regionalliga Südwest The winners and runners-up of the league were:"Kicker Almanach" The Football Yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the kicker Sports Magazine SeasonWinnerRunner-Up 1963–64 Borussia Neunkirchen FK Pirmasens 1964–65 1. FC Saarbrücken VfR Wormatia Worms 1965–66 FK Pirmasens 1. FC Saarbrücken 1966–67 Borussia Neunkirchen 1. FC Saarbrücken 1967–68 SV Alsenborn TuS Neuendorf 1968–69 SV Alsenborn TuS Neuendorf 1969–70 SV Alsenborn FK Pirmasens 1970–71 Borussia Neunkirchen FK Pirmasens 1971–72 Borussia Neunkirchen SV Röchling Völklingen 1972–73 FSV Mainz 05 SV Röchling Völklingen 1973–74 Borussia Neunkirchen 1. FC Saarbrücken Bold denotes team went on to gain promotion to the Bundesliga. The Borussia Neunkirchen holds the record for league wins in any of the five Regionalligas, having won Südwest five times. The 1. FC Saarbrücken is the only southwest team to have won the old (1965) and new (1996) Regionalliga.

Placings in the Regionalliga Südwest 1963 to 1974 The league placings from 1963 to 1974:Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv Historical German domestic league tables Club 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 Borussia Neunkirchen 1 B B 1 B 5 4 1 1 5 1 1. FC Saarbrücken B 1 2 2 5 3 6 4 12 13 2 FC 08 Homburg 11 10 9 14 8 9 7 3 SV Röchling Völklingen 13 14 8 9 7 12 13 10 2 2 4 FSV Mainz 05 4 11 3 4 4 13 12 7 4 1 5 VfR Wormatia Worms 3 2 5 13 12 8 11 12 7 4 6 Eintracht Bad Kreuznach 7 FK Pirmasens 2 7 1 6 3 4 2 2 6 3 8 ASV Landau 19 7 9 8 6 9 SV Alsenborn 9 8 1 1 1 5 3 8 10 Südwest Ludwigshafen 1 9 5 11 7 6 7 3 3 10 9 11 TuS Neuendorf 11 6 4 14 2 2 8 6 5 11 12 VfB Theley 16 10 13 Eisbachtaler Sportfreunde 14 14 FV Speyer 11 5 14 11 12 15 FC Ensdorf 16 Eintracht Trier 5 3 13 5 8 10 10 11 13 15 Phönix Bellheim 17 10 12 15 14 16 VfR Frankenthal 15 12 7 12 13 15 13 15 SpVgg Andernach 16 SV Saar 05 Saarbrücken 6 4 6 10 9 6 9 15 SpVgg Weisenau 14 9 10 3 11 14 15 SC Friedrichsthal 14 16 FC Landsweiler 16 SC Ludwigshafen 10 8 14 15 SSV Mülheim 16 Germania Metternich 18 16 BSC Oppau 16 13 15 TSC Zweibrücken 18 15 16 Sportfreunde Saarbrücken 8 16 VfR Kaiserslautern 7 17 Tura Ludwigshafen 1 12 SV Niederlahnstein 20 Source:

Key Symbol Key B Bundesliga Place League Blank Played at a league level below this league

Notes 1 TuRa Ludwigshafen merged with Phönix Ludwigshafen in 1964 to form Südwest Ludwigshafen.

Records The league records: Highest win 11–0 SV Alsenborn 11 – 0 Saar 05 Saarbrücken (20 December 1970)1. FC Saarbrücken 11 – 0 BSC Oppau (14 November 1965)Most goals in a game 14 SV Alsenborn 6 – 8 FC Homburg (19 November 1972)Season with most goals 1,386 (3,65 per game) 1963–64 Round with most goals 45 (5,63 per game) Round 16, 1972–73

All-time table The best and worst teams in the all-time table of the league from 1963 to 1974: Pos. Club Seasons M W D L GF GA P 1FK Pirmasens113421897380777423451 21. FSV Mainz 051134216463115666521391 31. FC Saarbrücken103041596382622357381 4-33 30 clubs 34FC Ensdorf130162318868

References

Sources Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen, An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga, publisher: DSFS kicker Almanach, The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine Süddeutschlands Fussballgeschichte in Tabellenform 1897-1988 History of Southern German football in tables, publisher & author: Ludolf Hyll Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945-2005 History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables, publisher: DSFS, published: 2006

External links Das deutsche Fussball Archiv Regionalligas at Fussballdaten.de