Country Germany Level on pyramid Level 6, 7 and 8 | Leagues 65 | |
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The Landesliga (English: Football State League) is a tier of football in some of the states of Germany.
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In Bavaria, Saxony, Thuringia, Bremen, Lower Saxony, and Hamburg the Landesligas are set right below the Oberliga and therefore are the sixth tier. The reason for this is that Bavaria, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, and Bremen are the only places in Germany where the Oberliga, the State, and the Verband are geographically the same, while the other two states simply chose to call their leagues Landesligas when establishing them in 1990. In the Middle Rhine and Lower Rhine regions of North Rhine-Westphalia it is also, since 2012, the sixth tier. In Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate (south-western part only), North Rhine-Westphalia (Westphalia), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, and Berlin it is the seventh tier, below the Verbandsliga. In the Saarland, the Landesligas are set as the eighth tier.
Typically, in each Bundesland, the Landesligas are split up into different Staffeln or "divisions". In Bavaria, the Landesliga is split up into five divisions, South-West, South-East, Central, North-West, and North-East. In Sachsen, Bremen, and Thüringen, the Landesliga is in a single division format. In Hamburg, it consists of two divisions.
In 2017, Schleswig-Holstein will introduce Landesligas at the sixth tier, leaving Hesse as the only German state not to have Landesligas. The Rheinland region of Rhineland-Palatinate also operates without such a league.
In Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia the league below the Landesligas is the Landesklasse (English: State Class). Also in 2017, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will reduce the number of Landesligas and Landesklasses to 2 and 4 divisions respectively.
Tier-VI Landesligas
Of the 65 Landesligas in Germany 19 are set at tier six of the German football league system, these being:
Tier VII-Landesligas
Apart from the above-mentioned states, Landesligas also exist in the states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate (in the south-west part only), North Rhine-Westphalia (Westphalia), Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Berlin and as Landesklasse, in Saxony and Thuringia as tier seven leagues, below the Verbandsligas:
Tier VIII-Landesligas
Uniquely, the Saarland has the Landesligas as the eighth tier of its league system; in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Saxony-Anhalt the equivalent tier is Landesklasse.