Landesliga

Organising bodies	State associations of theDFB
Country	Germany
State	15 states
Leagues	67
Level on pyramid	Level 6, 7 and 8
Promotion to	Oberliga
Relegation to	Various

TheLandesliga (English:Football State League) is a tier offootball in some states of theGerman football league system.

InBavaria,Saxony,Thuringia,Bremen,Lower Saxony andHamburg, the Landesligas are set right below theOberliga 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, theState, and theVerband are geographically the same, while the other two states simply chose to call their leaguesLandesligas when establishing them in 1990. In the Middle Rhine and Lower Rhine regions ofNorth Rhine-Westphalia it is also, since 2012, the sixth tier.

InBaden-Württemberg,Rhineland-Palatinate (southwestern part only),North Rhine-Westphalia (Westphalia),Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,Brandenburg,Saxony-Anhalt, andBerlin, the Landesliga is the seventh tier, below theVerbandsliga. In theSaarland, the Landesligas are set as the eighth tier.^[1][2][3]

Typically, in eachBundesland, theLandesligas are divided into differentStaffeln or "divisions". In Bavaria, theLandesliga is divided into five divisions, South-West, South-East, Central, North-West, and North-East. In Saxony, Bremen, and Thuringia, the Landesliga is in a single division format. In Hamburg, it consists of two divisions.^[2]

In 2017,Schleswig-Holstein introduced Landesligas at the sixth tier,^[4] leavingHesse as the only German state not to have Landesligas. The Rheinland region ofRhineland-Palatinate also operates without such a league.^[2]

In Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia the league below the Landesligas is the Landesklasse (English:State Class).^[2] Also in 2017, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania reduced the number of Landesligas and Landesklasses to 2 and 4 divisions respectively,^[5] but temporarily reverted them to 3 and 5 divisions for two seasons in 2020.^[6]

Of the 69Landesligas in Germany 20 are set at tier six of theGerman football league system, these being:^[2]

• The Landesligas of Thuringia and Saxony are unique in their naming as every other league in Germany of this standing carries the nameVerbandsliga. This was done so simply by choice of the localfootball associations in Saxony and Thuringia and the name could be changed toVerbandsliga if they wish to do so. Bavaria does not have this option however, since itsLandesligas are not the highest leagues in theVerband. This position is held by theOberligas in this state.

Apart from the above-mentioned states, Landesligas also exist in the states ofBaden-Württemberg,Rhineland-Palatinate (in the southwest part only),North Rhine-Westphalia (Westphalia),Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania,Brandenburg,Saxony-Anhalt,Berlin and as Landesklasse, inSaxony andThuringia as tier seven leagues, below the Verbandsligas:^[2]

Uniquely, theSaarland has the Landesligas as the eighth tier of its league system; in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Saxony-Anhalt the equivalent tier is Landesklasse.^[2]

• Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
• DFB: State Associations

• Landesliga
• Football leagues in Germany
• Sixth level football leagues in Europe

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