Oberliga Nord

Oberliga Nord
Map of Germany:Position of the Oberliga Nord highlighted
Founded1974
Folded2008 (24 seasons)
Replaced by
Country Germany
States
Level on pyramidLevel 4
Promotion toRegionalliga Nord
Relegation to
  • Verbandsliga Hamburg
  • Verbandsliga Bremen
  • Verbandsliga Niedersachsen-Ost
  • Verbandsliga Niedersachsen-West
  • Verbandsliga Schleswig-Holstein
Last championsHolstein Kiel
(2007–08)

The Oberliga Nord was the fourth tier of the German football league system in the north of Germany. It covered the states of Lower Saxony, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. With the introduction of the 3. Liga, the league ceased to exist from 2008.

Overview

[edit]

The first Oberliga Nord: 1947–1963

[edit]

The original league of this name existed from 1947 to 1963 and was then the first tier of German football, covering the same region as the "new" Oberliga Nord. For its history, see here.

The second Oberliga Nord: 1974–1994

[edit]

The league was formed in 1974 as a continuation of the Regionalliga Nord, the then second tier of German football. With the introduction of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord in that year, the Regionalliga was disbanded and its clubs spread among the new 2nd Bundesliga, Oberliga and Amateurligas.

The new Oberliga Nord however was only the third tier of the German football league system, replacing at this level the four Landes- and Amateurligas of Niedersachsen, Hamburg, Bremen and Schleswig-Holstein, who now slipped to the fourth tier of the league system.

Below the Oberliga were originally four leagues, one for each of the four states of the region. The Amateurliga of Niedersachsen changed its name to Landesliga from 1974 and after 1979 to Verbandsliga. The leagues in Bremen and Hamburg changed their name to Verbandsliga straight away in 1974. Schleswig-Holstein changed from Landesliga to Verbandsliga in 1978. In 1994, Niedersachsen, the largest of the four states, split its league into an eastern and a western group, a system already in place until 1964.

Due to the difference in playing strength of the Verbandsligas, champions were not directly promoted but had to go through a play-off system. Eight teams in two divisions were qualified for this competition, with three clubs from Niedersachsen, two each from Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and one from Bremen, to balance out the difference between the leagues.

In 1975 and 1976, the two first placed teams of the Oberliga took part in the promotion play-off to determine the promoted teams to the 2nd Bundesliga Nord. In 1977 and 1978, the top four teams from the Oberliga Nord went to this competition. With the reduction of the number of Oberligas in 1978, the winner and runners-up of the Oberliga Nord were directly promoted in 1979 and 1980.

No promotion was available in 1981 because the 2nd Bundesliga was reduced to one league only. From 1982, the top two teams in the league had to play-off for promotion again.

The Oberliga Nord was disbanded in 1994, with the re-introduction of the Regionalliga Nord, this time as the third tier of German football. Fourteen of its sixteen clubs went to the new Regionalliga, the bottom two teams were relegated to the two new Oberligas of Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein and Niedersachsen/Bremen.

The third Oberliga Nord: 2004–2008

[edit]

In 2004, after ten seasons, the Oberliga Nord was reformed, as the league below the Regionalliga Nord, being the fourth tier of football now. The two Oberligas that replaced it in 1994 were disbanded.

With the introduction of the 3. Liga and of a third Regionalliga in 2008, the Oberliga Nord again ceased to exist, being replaced by the five Verbandsligas in its stead. The top five clubs of the Oberliga in the 2007-08 season gained promotion to the Regionalliga Nord, the sixth placed team had to play-off with the Verbandsliga champions for another Regionalliga spot and the rest of the clubs were relegated to the Verbandsligas.[1] The northern region therefore became the only region in Germany without an Oberliga after 2008. In future, the five Verbandsliga champions will have to play-off for two promotion spots to the Regionalliga Nord.

Champions of the Oberliga Nord

[edit]

The league champions:[2][3]

Season Club
1974–75 VfB Oldenburg
1975–76 Arminia Hannover
1976–77 TuS Bremerhaven 93
1977–78 OSV Hannover
1978–79 OSV Hannover
1979–80 VfB Oldenburg
1980–81 FC St. Pauli
1981–82 SV Werder Bremen II
1982–83 FC St. Pauli
1983–84 SV Werder Bremen II
1984–85 VfL Osnabrück
1985–86 FC St. Pauli
1986–87 SV Meppen
1987–88 Eintracht Braunschweig
1988–89 TSV Havelse
1989–90 VfB Oldenburg
1990–91 VfL Wolfsburg
1991–92 VfL Wolfsburg
1992–93 VfL Herzlake
1993–94 Kickers Emden
1994 – 2004 no competition
2004–05 Kickers Emden
2005–06 SV Wilhelmshaven
2006–07 VfL Wolfsburg II
2007–08 Holstein Kiel

Placings in the Oberliga Nord 1975 to 2008

[edit]

The clubs in the league and their final placings:[2][3]

Club 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 05 06 07 08
VfL Wolfsburg 2B 2 2B 2 5 3 6 4 5 14 9 6 6 2 3 4 1 1 2B 2B B B B B
FC St. Pauli 2B 2B 2B B 2B 10 1 6 1 2 2B 1 2B 2B B B B 2B 2B 2B R R R 2B
VfL Osnabrück 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 1 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 3 R R R 2B
Eintracht Braunschweig B B B B B B 2B B B B B 2B 2B 1 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2 R 2B 2B R
VfB Lübeck 7 4 12 12 15 17 9 R R R R
SV Werder Bremen II 8 10 7 6 2 1 2 1 3 5 9 4 6 9 3 2 3 8 R R R R
Hamburger SV II 5 5 11 6 10 R R R R
Kickers Emden 6 8 1 1 R R R
VfL Wolfsburg II R 3 1 R
Holstein Kiel 10 13 3 4 2B 2B 2B 7 3 7 14 15 4 5 4 7 4 7 5 7 R R R 1
FC Altona 93 11 4 11 11 5 10 12 14 14 12 7 5 2
SV Wilhelmshaven 2B 4 10 12 16 17 15 11 8 11 14 17 2 1 R 3
Hannover 96 II 11 5 6 4
BV Cloppenburg 6 2 2 5
TuS Heeslingen 6
VfB Oldenburg 1 3 7 8 8 1 2B 9 16 15 4 2 5 3 7 1 2B 2B 2B 6 7
SV Meppen 3 6 13 17 8 4 13 7 6 5 3 1 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 2B 3 8 4 8
FC Oberneuland 3 9
Eintracht Braunschweig II 11 15 14 17 18 13 17 12 10 10
VfL Osnabrück II 13 12 11
FC St. Pauli II 8 10 8 12
ASV Bergedorf 85 10 11 13 13
SV Lurup 17 3 7 17 10 14 14
Eintracht Nordhorn 9 9 13 12 16 16 14 10 15 4 4 7 15
VSK Osterholz-Scharmbeck 14 16
VfB Lübeck II 17 17
SV Henstedt-Rhen 16 18
Holstein Kiel II 1 7 6 9
VfR Neumünster 2 5 14 11
Arminia Hannover 2 1 2B 2B 2B 2B 11 2 9 8 6 9 2 13 11 13 18 9 9 15
VfL 93 Hamburg 11 11 17
SV Ramlingen 18
TSV Kropp 15
Eider Büdelsdorf 14 16
Meiendorfer SV 13 17
Brinkumer SV 18
HSV Barmbek-Uhlenhorst 2B 15 11 5 11 11 18 15
Concordia Hamburg 11 7 5 6 9 13 9 14 11 13 16 8 12 7 15 12 15 16
Victoria Hamburg 4 16 17 18
VfL Herzlake 10 15 10 13 1 4
TuS Hoisdorf 8 3 11 8 9 5
TuS Celle 7 5 7 12
SC Göttingen 05 2B 2B 2B 3 6 2 2B 3 12 5 12 10 3 6 2 6 2 12 4 13
1. SC Norderstedt 15 9 8 6 4 2 15
Preußen Hameln 5 12 4 11 10 14 17 16
TSV Havelse 10 6 4 15 16 7 9 1 2 2B 3 16
VfL Stade 9 17
TuS Lingen 12
SVG Göttingen 11 13 9 13
TSV Osterholz-Tenever 15
Bremer SV 17 13 15 14 16 12 16 16 8 16
Wolfenbütteler SV 12 10 8 12 14 16
SpVgg Eutin 17
FC Mahndorf 16 13 18
TuS Esens 17
SFL Bremerhaven 17
Lüneburger SK 8 12 14 16 13 14 13 14 18
Atlas Delmenhorst 6 15 14 4 7 8 18 15 18
Hummelsbüttler SV 13 2 7 18
MTV Gifhorn 7 10 5 4 9 10 18
OSC Bremerhaven 6 10 1 2B 2 2B 5 16 10 12 17
TuS Hessisch Oldendorf 13 10 18
SV Union Salzgitter 12 5 2 9 3 5 3 11 8 17
OSV Hannover 9 14 14 1 1 2B 2B 18
Itzehoer SV 8 17 12 16 15 9 15
Blumenthaler SV 7 8 16 18
1. FC Phönix Lübeck 14 18
VfL Pinneberg 18
SpVgg Bad Pyrmont 13 18 18
SpVgg Flensburg 08 15
Heider SV 16
SC Poppenbüttel 18

Key

[edit]
Symbol Key
B Bundesliga (1963–present)
2B 2. Bundesliga (1974–present)
R Regionalliga Nord (1994–present)
1 League champions
Place League
Blank Played at a league level below this league

Founding members of the Oberliga Nord

[edit]

The league started in 1974 with eighteen clubs from four German states:

Disbanding of the Oberliga in 2008

[edit]

At the end of its last season, 2007–08, the last round having been played on 30 May 2008, the clubs of the league were spread over various other divisions, according to their final league position. The 6th placed team, TuS Heeslingen,[4] was not granted a Regionalliga licence and the 7th placed club, VfB Oldenburg, qualified for the play-offs instead. The Bremen champion, FC Bremerhaven, was also not granted a licence and the best place club from Bremen in the Oberliga, the FC Oberneuland, qualified instead.[5] Its eighteen clubs went to the following leagues:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Regulations for the Oberliga Nord 2007-08" (PDF). Northern German FA. Retrieved 4 March 2008. [dead link]
  2. ^ a b Historical German league tables (in German) Das Deutsche Fussball Archiv. Retrieved 5 February 2015
  3. ^ a b Oberliga Nord tables and results 1994–2008 (in German) Fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 5 February 2014
  4. ^ TuS Heeslingen verzichtet (in German) Die Fussballecke.de, 28 May 2008. Retrieved 1 June 2008
  5. ^ Oberliga Nord at kicker.de (in German)}. Retrieved 3 June 2008

Sources

[edit]
  • 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.
  • Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945-2005 (in German) History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables. DSFS. 2006.
[edit]