Mittelrheinliga

Mittelrheinliga

Organising body	Football Association of the Middle Rhine
Founded	1956
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Region	Middle Rhine
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	Level 5
Promotion to	Regionalliga West
Relegation to	Landesliga Mittelrhein (2 divisions)
Current champions	FC Hennef 05 (2022–23)

The Mittelrheinliga (English: Middle Rhine League), sometimes also referred to as Oberliga Mittelrhein after its elevation to Oberliga status in 2012, is a German amateur football division administered by the Football association of the Middle Rhine, one of the 21 German state football associations. Being the top flight of the Middle Rhine state association, the league is currently a level 5 division of the German football league system.

Overview

Until 1956, a total of ten Landesliga divisions, among them two divisions of Landesliga Mittelrhein were the highest amateur level in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. After the regular season, the ten Landesliga champions had to play-off for two promotion spots to 2. Oberliga West. Upon decision of the superior Western German football association, in 1956 four divisions of Verbandsliga were introduced, one of them being the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein. ^[1] These four divisions of Verbandsliga still exist today, with the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein in 2008 renamed to Mittelrheinliga and later in 2012 renamed to Mittelrheinliga.

The Verbandsliga Mittelrhein was upon its inception the third tier of the German football league system. The league champion had to play-off the winners of the Verbandsliga Niederrhein and the two divisions of Verbandsliga Westfalen for two promotion spots to the 2. Oberliga West. Upon introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963, the league was set below the new Regionalliga West but remained as the third tier. With the exception of 1963 and 1974, when the league systems were changed, the champion continued to have the opportunity to win promotion. The clubs from the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein remained mostly unsuccessful as that, only achieving promotion in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1975, 1976 and 1978.

The league operated with 16 clubs throughout most of its existence, only occasionally altering the numbers to balance out promotion and relegation.

With the replacement of the Regionalliga by the 2nd Bundesliga Nord in 1974, the league champion had to gain promotion through a play-off system with the winners of the other tier-three leagues in northern Germany.

In 1978, the Amateur-Oberliga Nordrhein was formed as the third tier of football in the region compromising the area of the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein and Verbandsliga Niederrhein. One of the main reasons for this move was to provide direct promotion for the tier-three champions again. This season's league winner, Viktoria Köln, was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga; the clubs placed two to ten in the league were admitted to the new Oberliga, these being:

• SV Baesweiler 09
• Bonner SC
• 1. FC Köln II
• SC Jülich 1910
• TuS Langerwehe
• SV Siegburg 04
• FC Niederembt
• FV Bad Honnef
• Borussia Brand

Verbandsliga Mittelrhein, together with Niederrhein, remained as a feeder league for the new Oberliga, but now as a tier-four competition. Its champion, and some years the runners-up, were directly promoted to the Oberliga Nordrhein.

With the re-introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994, the league slipped to tier five but remained unchanged otherwise.

From 2008, with the introduction of the 3rd Liga, the Verbandsliga Mittelrhein was downgraded to the sixth tier. The league above it was then the new NRW-Liga, a merger of the Oberligas Nordrhein and Westfalen. The champion of the Verbandsliga continued to be directly promoted but since there was now four Verbandsligen below the Oberliga, the runners-up did not have the option of promotion unless the league winner declined.

The NRW-Liga existed for only four seasons before it was disbanded again in 2012 in the wake of the Regionalliga West becoming a league for clubs from North Rhine-Westphalia only. While the Oberliga Westfalen was established again in one half of the state the regions of Lower Rhine and Middle Rhine opted to elevate the Niederrheinliga and Mittelrheinliga to Oberliga status instead of reforming the Oberliga Nordrhein.

League champions

The league champions since 1956:

Season Club 1956–57 SV Stolberg 1957–58 SSG Bergisch Gladbach 1958–59 Bonner FV 1959–60 SV Baesweiler 09 1960–61 SV Siegburg 04 1961–62 Tura Bonn 1962–63 SG Düren 99 1963–64 SV Schlebusch 1964–65 1. FC Köln II 1965–66 SG Düren 99 1966–67 1. FC Köln II 1967–68 Bonner SC 1968–69 SC Jülich 10 1969–70 SC Jülich 10 1970–71 SC Jülich 10 1971–72 Bonner SC 1972–73 SV Frechen 20 1973–74 Bayer Leverkusen 1974–75 Bayer Leverkusen 1975–76 Bonner SC 1976–77 1. FC Köln II 1977–78 Viktoria Köln

Season Club 1978–79 Rhenania Richterich 1979–80 SV Frechen 20 1980–81 Bayer Leverkusen II 1981–82 TuS Langerwehe 1982–83 SG Düren 99 1983–84 SV Siegburg 04 1984–85 Bonner SC 1985–86 TuS Lindlar 1986–87 SC Jülich 10 1987–88 SC Brück 1988–89 Alemannia Aachen II 1989–90 TuS Langerwehe 1990–91 SC Brück 1991–92 1. FC Köln II 1992–93 Germania Teveren 1993–94 TuS Langerwehe 1994–95 VfL Rheinbach 1995–96 SSG Bergisch Gladbach 1996–97 Rhenania Würselen 1997–98 SCB Preußen Köln 1998–99 TSC Euskirchen 1999–2000 Borussia Freialdenhoven

Season Club 2000–01 Bonner SC 2001–02 GFC Düren 09 2002–03 PSI Yurdumspor Köln 2003–04 Alemania Aachen II 2004–05 FC Wegberg-Beeck 2005–06 SSG Bergisch Gladbach 2006–07 Germania Dattenfeld 2007–08 VfL Leverkusen 2008–09 SSG Bergisch Gladbach 2009–10 FC Wegberg-Beeck 2010–11 FC Junkersdorf 2011–12 FC Hennef 05 2012–13 FC Hennef 05 2013–14 FC Hennef 05 2014–15 FC Wegberg-Beeck 2015–16 Bonner SC 2016–17 FC Wegberg-Beeck 2017–18 TV Herkenrath 2018–19 SV Bergisch Gladbach 09 2019–20 FC Wegberg-Beeck 2020–21 None 2021–22 1. FC Düren 2022–23 FC Hennef 05

Source: "Verbandsliga Mittelrhein". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 19 March 2008.

• In 1966, second-placed Bonner SC were promoted instead of SG Düren 99.
• In 1967, second-placed Fortuna Köln were promoted because 1. FC Köln II was ineligible.
• In 1973, second-placed Viktoria Köln were promoted instead of SV Frechen 20.
• In 2008, second-placed Fortuna Köln were promoted because VfL Leverkusen was refused a Regionalliga licence.
• FC Hennef 05 declined promotion in 2012 and 2013 but accepted it in 2014.
• In 2021, the season was curtailed because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, with no champion or promotion.
• In 2023, second-placed FC Wegberg-Beeck were promoted instead of FC Hennef 05.

Clubs in the Mittelrheinliga since 2012

The final league placings of all clubs in the league since receiving Oberliga status in 2012: ^[2]

Club	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
1. FC Düren							8	2	8	1	R	R
FC Wegberg-Beeck	7	2	1	R	1	R	2	1	R	R	2	R
FC Hennef 05	1	1	R	9	13	2	3	4	1	2	1	x
VfL 08 Vichttal						11	12	10	5	12	3	x
Bonner SC		7	2	1	R	R	R	R	R	R	4	x
SV Eintracht Hohkeppel											5	x
SV Bergisch Gladbach 09	R	5	10	3	5	10	1	R	R	3	6	x
SpVg Frechen 20							9	9	9	4	7	x
Borussia Freialdenhoven	3	11	9	6	7	5	4	6	2	5	8	x
TuS Königsdorf											9	x
FC Hürth	15		4	7	6	9	5	7	3	6	10	x
BC Viktoria Glesch-Paffendorf									10	11	11	x
Fortuna Köln II								15	13	13	12	x
Siegburger SV 04					10	3	13	5	11	7	13	x
FV Bonn-Endenich												x
Germania Teveren												x
SpVg. Porz												x
Union Schafhausen												x
Blau-Weiß Friesdorf				11	8	4	10	14	17	8	14
FC Pesch						16		3	7	10	15
Viktoria Arnoldsweiler	4	3	6	8	9	7	11	13	6	9	16
VfL Alfter	11	6	5	2	3	12	14		4	14
SV Eilendorf			8	16				16	14	15
SV Breinig				13		6	6	12	12	16
SV Deutz 05							7	11	15	17
SpVg Wesseling-Urfeld	13			10	12	15		8	16	18
TV Herkenrath				5	2	1	R
SSV Merten		13				13	15
TSC Euskirchen	2	8	3	4	4	8	16
Hilal Bergheim	8	14			11	14
FC Inde Hahn					14
VfL Rheinbach					15
Germania Windeck	6	10	12	12	16
Alemannia Aachen II	9	4	7	14
VfL Leverkusen			11	15
SC Brühl 06/45	5	9	13
TSV Hertha Walheim	14		14
FC Bergheim 2000			15
Germania Erftstadt	12	12	16
SV Nierfeld		15
SF Troisdorf 05	10	16
SG Köln-Worringen	16

Key

Symbol	Key
B	Bundesliga (1963–present)
2B	2. Bundesliga (1974–present)
3L	3. Liga (2008–present)
R	Regionalliga West (2008–present)
1	League champions
Place	League
Blank	Played at a league level below this league

Founding members of the league

From the 2. Oberliga West:

• Rhenania Würselen

From the Landesliga Gruppe 1:

• SSV Troisdorf 05
• Rapid Köln
• VfL Köln 99
• SV Habbelrath-Grefrath
• SG Eschweiler
• SV Stolberg
• Tura Hennef

From the Landesliga Gruppe 2:

• SSG Bergisch Gladbach
• SC Fortuna Köln
• FV Godesberg 08
• SV Merkstein
• Viktoria Alsdorf
• BC Kohlscheid
• Tura Bonn

References

1. fvn.de: Geschichte des FVN (German)
2. Mittelrheinliga tables and results (in German) Weltfussball.de

Sources

• 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.

External links

• League table (in German)
• Verbandsliga Mittelrhein at fussballdaten.de (in German)
• Mittelrhein Football Association (FVM) (in German)