The Regionalliga West/Südwest was formed in 1994 to form a regional third level of play between the 2. Bundesliga and the Oberligas Westfalen, Nordrhein and Südwest. The league was made up of 18 clubs, with six each from the three regions it covered. It was formed alongside three other Regionalligas, the Regionalliga Nord, Nordost and Süd.
The number of teams in the league varied, starting its first season (1995) with 18, then 19 (1996), 18 (1997, 1998), 17 (1999), and 20 (2000).
The league winner was always promoted to the 2. Bundesliga; the runners up were also promoted in two of the seasons. The regulation on which of the runners-up of the four Regionalligas went up meant that promotion was allocated in an alternating way. After 1995, it gave the runners-up a chance to gain promotion too via a play-off.
In its final season (2000), Regionalliagas were reduced from four to two. With the exception of the Sportfreunde Siegen, clubs from Nordrhein-Westfalen went to the Regionalliga Nord. The clubs from Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland went to the Regionalliga Süd.
In 2008, the number of Regionalligas will be expanded from two to three and there will be a new Regionalliga West which will cover exactly the area the old Regionalliga West/Südwest did, but will then be the fourth tier of German football.
Disbanding of the Regionalliga West/Südwest
When the league was discontinued in 2000, the first two clubs in the league went to the 2. Bundesliga, clubs placed third to twelfth moved to the two remaining Regionalligas, seven to the north and three to the south. The other eight league teams were relegated down to the Oberligas.
The Sportfreunde Siegen were the oddity in this distribution, being from the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen which had all its clubs in the northern group except the Sportfreunde. The reason for this was that Siegen is in the far south of the state.
Winners and runners-up of the Regionalliga West/Südwest
