1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1900, the club initially competed in the Southern German championship, winning their first title in 1916. Their first German championship was won in 1920. Before the inauguration of the Bundesliga in 1963, 1.FCN won a further 11 regional championships, including the Oberliga Süd formed in 1945, and were German champions another seven times. The club has won the Bundesliga once and the DFB-Pokal four times.
Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth is a German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, following promotion from the 2. Bundesliga in the 2020–21 season.
The 2. Bundesliga is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below the Bundesliga and above the 3. Liga in the German football league system. All of the 2. Bundesliga clubs qualify for the DFB-Pokal, the annual German Cup competition. A total of 127 clubs have competed in the 2. Bundesliga since its foundation.
The Regionalliga is the fourth tier in the German football league system. Until 1974, it was the second tier in Germany. In 1994, it was introduced as the third tier. Upon the creation of the new nationwide 3. Liga in 2008, it became the fourth tier.
The Austrian Regionalliga is the third-highest division in Austrian football, after the Austrian Bundesliga and the Second League. It is divided into 5 groups: East, covering the states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland; Central, covering the states of Styria, Carinthia, Upper Austria and the exclave of East Tyrol; Regionalliga Salzburg, covering the state of Salzburg; Regionalliga Tirol, covering the state of Tyrol and the Eliteliga Vorarlberg, covering the state of Vorarlberg.
Holstein Kiel is a German association football and sports club based in the city of Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. From the 1900s through the 1960s the club was one of the most dominant sides in northern Germany. Holstein appeared regularly in the national playoffs, capturing their most important title, the German football championship in 1912, and finishing as vice-champions in 1910 and 1930. Holstein also won six regional titles and finished as runners-up another nine times. They remained a first-division side until the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963.
The German football league system, or league pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Germany that in the 2016–17 season consists of 2,235 leagues in up to 13 levels having 31,645 teams, in which all divisions are bound together by the principle of promotion and relegation. The top three professional levels contain one division each. Below this, the semi-professional and amateur levels have progressively more parallel divisions, which each cover progressively smaller geographic areas. Teams that finish at the top of their division at the end of each season can rise higher in the pyramid, while those that finish at the bottom find themselves sinking further down. Therefore, in theory, it is possible for even the lowest local amateur club to rise to the top of the system and become German football champions one day. The number of teams promoted and relegated between the divisions varies, and promotion to the upper levels of the pyramid is usually contingent on meeting additional criteria, especially concerning appropriate facilities and finances.
The Regionalliga Süd was the fourth tier of the German football league system from 2008 to 2012. Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008, it was the third tier. It was the highest regional league for the southern part of Germany. It covered the states of Bavaria, Hesse and Baden-Württemberg and was one of three leagues at this level, together with the Regionalliga Nord and the Regionalliga West.
The Under 19 Bundesliga is the highest level in German Under 19 football. It was created in 2003 and is divided in three divisions with 14 teams each. The winner of each divisions and the second-placed team from the Süd/Südwest division join the play-offs for the German U19 champions.
The Regionalliga Süd was the second-highest level of the German football league system. It existed in the south of Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2. Bundesliga in 1974. It covered the three states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hessen.
The 2. Bundesliga Süd was the second-highest level of the West German football league system in the south of West Germany from its introduction in 1974 until the formation of the single-division 2. Bundesliga in 1981. It covered the southern states of Saarland, Rheinland-Pfalz, Baden-Württemberg, Hesse and Bavaria.
The Oberliga Niedersachsen, sometimes referred to as Niedersachsenliga, is the fifth tier of the German football league system and the highest league in the German state of Lower Saxony. Since 1994, the league was split into a western and an eastern group. In 2010, it returned to a single-division format. The Oberliga moved to a north-south split in 2020. It is one of fourteen Oberligen in German football, the fifth tier of the German football league system.
The Frauen-Regionalliga is the third-tier of German women's association football. The Frauen-Regionalliga is made up of five separate leagues. Until 2017, the champion of each league was promoted to the 2. Frauen-Bundesliga for the next season, so were the winners of two promotion groups in 2018. Since 2019, the three winners of promotion play-offs qualify for next season's 2. Bundesliga.
The TSV Vestenbergsgreuth is a German association football club from the village of Vestenbergsgreuth, Franconia. From 1996 to 2007, the club did not field a team due to a merger with SpVgg Fürth, but has since returned to competitive football as a separate side.
The Under 17 Bundesliga is the highest level of play in German football for male juniors between the ages of 15 and 17. It was formed in 2007 and operates in three regional divisions with 14 clubs each. At the end of season, the three league winners and one of the runners-up determine the German champions for this age group.
The Rugby Regionalliga is the third-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. Its set below the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga. It is organised in eight regional divisions.
The 3. Liga Süd-West is the third-highest level of Germany's Rugby union league system, organised by the German Rugby Federation. It is set below the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West, the second tier of rugby in Southern Germany, and above the Rugby-Regionalliga, the fourth tier.
Frank Schmidt is a German former professional footballer who is now manager of 1. FC Heidenheim. During his career he played as a defender.
The Introduction of the 2. Bundesliga was the step of establishing a professional second tier association football league in Germany in 1974. The new league, the 2. Bundesliga, played its first season in 1974–75 and continues to be the second-highest league in the country. Its introduction reduced the number of second divisions in Germany from five to two and the number of teams at this level from 83 to 40. It eliminated the necessity of having a promotion round at the end of the season to determine the two teams promoted to the Bundesliga.
The 2020–21 DFB-Pokal was the 78th season of the annual German football cup competition. Sixty-four teams participated in the competition, including all teams from the previous year's Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The competition began on 11 September 2020 with the first of six rounds and ended on 13 May 2021 with the final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin, a nominally neutral venue, which has hosted the final since 1985. The competition was originally scheduled to begin on 14 August 2020 and conclude on 22 May 2021, though this was delayed due to postponement of the previous season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The DFB-Pokal is considered the second-most important club title in German football after the Bundesliga championship. The DFB-Pokal is run by the German Football Association (DFB).
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