Grazer Athletiksport Klub, better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying success in the decade between 1995 and 2005. The other sections are basketball, diving and tennis, which however all act as separate legal entities. The "GAK" football section folded during the 2012–13 Regionalliga Mitte Season in Autumn 2012. It has since been revived and returned to the Austrian Second League in 2019, and four years later won promotion to the Austrian Bundesliga after a seventeen-year hiatus.
The Oberliga is the fifth tier of the German football league system. Before the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008, it was the fourth tier. At the end of the 2011–12 season the number of Oberligas was increased from eleven to fourteen.
Football is the most popular sport in Austria. The Austrian Football Association, the ÖFB, was founded in 1904 and has been a member of FIFA since then. Despite the sport's popularity, except for a successful streak in the early 1930s, the country's national team has not been successful in tournaments. Austria played their first ever European championship as a qualifier in 2016, but finished last in their group and failed to advance. Appeared in the European championship in 2008, 2016, 2020 and recently qualified for 2024. Their best up to date achievement of this competition was the Round of 16 in the 2020 edition.
A Regionalliga is a regional league in numerous sports governing bodies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, usually located in the upper or middle tiers of the sports leagues.
The Austrian Regionalliga is the third-highest division in Austrian football, after the Austrian Bundesliga and the Second League. It is divided into 3 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; West, covering the state of Salzburg; Regionalliga Tirol, covering the state of Tyrol and the Eliteliga Vorarlberg, covering the state of Vorarlberg.
The Austrian Regional League West was a third-tier division of Austrian football introduced in the 1980–81 season as successor of the Alpenliga. It covered the Austrian states of Salzburg, Tyrol and Vorarlberg and was one of three leagues at this level.
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 Oberliga Rheinland-Pfalz/Saar, formerly the Oberliga Südwest, is the highest regional football league for the Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland states of Germany, organized by the Southwestern Regional Football Association. It is the fifth tier of the German football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the fourth tier of the league system; before the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 the third tier.
The Bayernliga is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league in the state of Bavaria and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the fifth tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the fourth tier of the league system, until the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 the third tier.
The Regionalliga Süd was the second-highest level of the German football league system. It existed in the south of West Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2. Bundesliga in 1974. It covered the three states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse.
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.
The Regionalliga West was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the west of Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2. Bundesliga in 1974. It covered the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, the most populous state of Germany.
The Regionalliga Nord was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the north of Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2. Bundesliga in 1974. It covered the states of Niedersachsen, Bremen, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein.
The Regionalliga Berlin was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the city of West-Berlin in Germany from 1963 until the formation of the 2. Bundesliga in 1974. It was by far the smallest of the five Regionalligas.
Fußballclub Dornbirn 1913, commonly known as FC Mohren Dornbirn 1913 for sponsorship reasons is a professional association football club based in the town of Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Austria, that competes in the Austrian Regionalliga West, one of the third tiers of the Austrian football league system. Founded in 1913, it is affiliated to the Vorarlberg Football Association. The team plays its home matches at Stadion Birkenwiese, where it has been based since 2019.
Regionalliga Süd may refer to a number of sports leagues in Southern Germany.
Regionalliga Nord may refer to a number of sports leagues in Northern Germany.
The Introduction of the Bundesliga was the long-debated step of establishing a top-level association football league in Germany in 1963. The new league, the Bundesliga, played its first season in 1963–64 and continues to be the highest league in the country. Its introduction reduced the number of first division teams in Germany from 74 to 16 and finally eliminated the problem of the top-teams having to play uncompetitive teams in regional leagues.
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.
German reserve football teams compete at all levels of league football within the German football league system apart from the top two divisions, the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The highest league these teams can currently enter is the 3. Liga, set at the third tier of the league system.
