NOFV-Oberliga
The fourteen Oberligas in Germany
Founded1991
CountryGermany
States
RegionNortheast
Divisions2
Number of teams36 (18 teams of each division)
Level on pyramidLevel 5
Promotion toRegionalliga Nordost
Relegation to
Current championsNorth: Hansa Rostock II
South: FC Eilenburg
(2022–23)

The NOFV-Oberliga is a division at step 5 of the German football league system. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, it became the successor of the DDR-Oberliga, and functions today as a 5th division in the former territory of East Germany and the city of Berlin.

This league is named after the Nordostdeutscher Fußballverband (NOFV: North-East German Football Association), the regional association of the DFB in the former East German territories.

The league is currently split in two groups, north and south, the NOFV-Oberliga Nord and NOFV-Oberliga Süd. A third league, the NOFV-Oberliga Mitte existed from 1991 to 1994.

1990–91 Season

The NOFV-Oberliga developed after the entry of the Deutscher Fußball-Verband (the East German Football Association) to the Deutscher Fußball-Bund. It was the successor of the DDR-Oberliga and functioned as the elite division in the former East Germany for this season only.

FC Hansa Rostock became champions of that league, with Dynamo Dresden being the runners-up. Thereby both acquired the starting rights for the 1991–92 Bundesliga season.

The following teams qualified directly for the 2. Bundesliga:

These two teams qualified indirectly through a playoff round:

All remaining clubs continued to play in the NOFV-Oberliga. This became the third-highest division starting with the 1991–92 season.

1991–1994

During these three seasons the NOFV-Oberliga was the third-highest league in German football. At this time it consisted of three divisions: North, Central and South. Overall there were 10 Oberligen in Germany at the time. At the end of the season, the Oberliga champions had a play-off for promotion to the 2. Bundesliga. The bottom two teams of each division were relegated to the Landesligen.

Division champions and promotion to 2. Bundesliga:

1994–2007

With the introduction of the Regionalliga the NOFV-Oberliga became the 4th level of the pyramid starting with the 1994–95 season. The number of divisions was reduced by one so that only North and South remained. Today it is the highest amateur division. The champions of both divisions were promoted directly to Regionalliga until Regionalliga was reduced from 4 to 2 divisions from the 1999–2000 season. Due to that change, there was no promotion from Oberliga in the 1998–99, but more teams were relegated to Oberliga than usual.

Starting with the 1999–2000 season promotion was decided by a two-leg playoff between the division champions. This rule was scrapped for the 2005–06 season, so that both division champions will be promoted to Regionalliga at the end of this season.

The bottom three teams of each division are relegated to the 5th level of the pyramid, but this number can increase depending on which teams are relegated from Regionalliga.

The NOFV-Oberliga is played in two divisions:

Promotions to the Regionalliga since 1994–95:

League reform in 2008

At the end of the 2007–08 season, the NOFV-Oberligen were demoted one tier due to the inception of the new 3. Liga. The best three teams from each of the two leagues were promoted to the Regionalliga this season, the two fourth-placed teams played off for one more promotion spot:[1]

Additionally to the six Verbandsliga champions, three runners-up from this leagues were also promoted to the Oberliga. To determine the three teams, three promotion play-off match-ups were drawn:

See also

References

  1. ↑ NOFV-News (in German) Retrieved 23 June 2008
  2. ↑ Lok Leipzig home page: Rückspiel Aufstiegs-Relegation zur Oberliga Saison 2007/2008 Archived 15 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine (in German) statistics to the second play-off game. Retrieved 23 June 2008
  3. ↑ SV Lichtenberg 47 home page - Herren: Nicht verloren, dennoch nicht aufgestiegen (in German) Retrieved 23 June 2008
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