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Regionalliga West
Founded	1963
Folded	1974 (11 seasons)
Replaced by	2. Bundesliga Nord
Country	Germany
State	Nordrhein-Westfalen
Level on pyramid	Level 2
Promotion to	Bundesliga
Relegation to	Verbandsliga Mittelrhein; Verbandsliga Niederrhein; Verbandsliga Westfalen 1; Verbandsliga Westfalen 2;
Last champions	SG Wattenscheid 09 ; (1973–74)

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.

Overview

The league started out in 1963 with 20 teams in the league, which was reduced to 18 the year after.

It was formed from the eleven clubs of the Oberliga West which were not admitted to the new Bundesliga, from the top eight clubs of the 2. Oberliga West and one club from the Verbandsliga Westfalen, the Lüner SV. The Regionalliga West was as such a continuation of the Oberliga West under a different name and a tier lower.

Along with the Regionalliga West went another four Regionalligas, these five formed the second tier of German football until 1974:

Regionalliga Nord, covering the states of Niedersachsen, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg
Regionalliga Süd, covering the state of Bayern, Hessen and Baden-Württemberg
Regionalliga Berlin, covering West-Berlin
Regionalliga Südwest, covering the states of Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland

The new Regionalligas were formed along the borders of the old post-World War II Oberligas, not after a balanced regional system. Therefore, the Oberligas Berlin and West covered small but populous areas while Nord and Süd covered large areas. Südwest was something of an anomaly, neither large nor populous.

The winners and runners-up of this league were admitted to the promotion play-off to the Bundesliga, which was staged in two groups of originally four, later five teams each with the winner of each group going up.

The bottom teams in varying number were relegated to the Verbandsligas. Below the Regionalliga West were the following Verbandsligas:

Schwarz-Weiß Essen is the only club to have played in all eleven seasons of the Regionalliga West.

Disbanding of the Regionalliga West

The league was dissolved in 1974. According to their performance of the last couple of seasons, 11 clubs of the Regionalliga went to the new 2. Bundesliga Nord. The seven remaining clubs were relegated to the Amateurligas.

The teams admitted to the 2. Bundesliga Nord were:

The following teams were relegated to the Amateurligas:

to Amateurliga Westfalen Nordost: Arminia Gütersloh, Eintracht Gelsenkirchen
to Amateurliga Westfalen Südwest: Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid, Sportfreunde Siegen, Westfalia Herne
to Amateurliga Mittelrhein: Viktoria Köln
to Amateurliga Niederrhein: Union Solingen

Re-formation of the Regionalliga West

In 1994, the Regionalligas were re-established, after 20 years, this time as the third tier of German Football. The new Regionalliga West/Südwest was a merger of the two old Regionalligas Südwest and West. In 2000, this league was disbanded again and its clubs spread over the Regionalligas Süd and Nord.

In 2008, the Regionalliga West reformed again, covering the same territory as the Regionalliga West/Südwest did but now called West only. It is the fourth tier of football in Germany.

Champions and runners-up of the Regionalliga West

The winners and runners-up of the league were:^[1]

Season	Champion	Runner-Up
1963–64	Alemannia Aachen	Wuppertaler SV
1964–65	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Alemannia Aachen
1965–66	Fortuna Düsseldorf	Rot-Weiss Essen
1966–67	Alemannia Aachen	Schwarz-Weiss Essen
1967–68	Bayer Leverkusen	Rot-Weiss Essen
1968–69	Rot-Weiss Oberhausen	Rot-Weiss Essen
1969–70	VfL Bochum	Arminia Bielefeld
1970–71	VfL Bochum	Fortuna Düsseldorf
1971–72	Wuppertaler SV	Rot-Weiss Essen
1972–73	Rot-Weiss Essen	Fortuna Köln
1973–74	SG Wattenscheid 09	Rot-Weiss Oberhausen

Bold denotes team went on to gain promotion to the Bundesliga.
Alemannia Aachen (1964, 1967, 1999), SG Wattenscheid 09 (1974, 1997), Rot–Weiss Oberhausen (1969, 1998) and Rot–Weiss Essen (1973, 2004, 2006) all have won the old and the new Regionalliga.

Placings in the Regionalliga West 1963 to 1974

The league placings from 1963 to 1974:^[2]

Club	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74
Borussia Mönchengladbach	8	1	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B
VfL Bochum			12	4	5	3	1	1	B	B	B
Fortuna Düsseldorf	3	3	1	B	6	4	4	2	B	B	B
Wuppertaler SV	2	6	5	7	15	5	3	3	1	B	B
Rot-Weiß Essen	10	7	2	B	2	2	B	B	2	1	B
Fortuna Köln					16	13	14	4	3	2	B
SG Wattenscheid 09							8	13	12	5	1
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	7	4	4	6	3	1	B	B	B	B	2
Bayer Uerdingen									7	3	3
1. FC Mülheim										8	4
Preußen Münster	B	8	6	9	13	14	7	9	11	13	5
Borussia Dortmund	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	4	6
Alemannia Aachen	1	2	3	1	B	B	B	6	4	6	7
Schwarz-Weiß Essen	13	9	7	2	7	6	5	11	5	12	8
DJK Gütersloh							10	8	13	9	9
Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid											10
SpVgg Erkenschwick							15	15	6	10	11
Sportfreunde Siegen	18									7	12
Arminia Gütersloh									9	16	13
Arminia Bielefeld	11	5	10	3	4	7	2	B	B	11	14
Union Solingen											15
STV Horst-Emscher	15	17	18								16
Westfalia Herne	6	12	15	11	17			12	14	15	17
Viktoria Köln	5	10	9	13	10	16	12	10	17		18
Eintracht Gelsenkirchen		13	16	12	14	18		5	10	14
Bayer Leverkusen	12	16	14	10	1	8	11	7	8	17
Lüner SV	20				8	10	6	14	15	18
VfR Neuß				8	12	9	9	16	16
VfL Klafeld									18
Bonner SC				17		15	13	17
SF Hamborn 07	14	14	8	5	9	11	16	18
SSVg Velbert							17
TSV Marl-Hüls	4	15	13	14	11	12	18
Eintracht Duisburg	9	11	11	18		17
VfB Bottrop	17		17		18
SSV Hagen				15
Hammer SpVg				16
Homberger SV		18
SpVgg Herten	16
Duisburg 48/99	19

Source:"Regionalliga West". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Retrieved 7 January 2008.

Key

Symbol	Key
B	Bundesliga
Place	League
Blank	Played at a league level below this league

Notes

Duisburger SV and Duisburg 48/99 merged in 1964 to form Eintracht Duisburg.
In 1973, Eintracht Gelsenkirchen merged with STV Horst-Emscher, calling itself STV Eintracht Gelsenkirchen until 1978, then STV Horst-Emscher again.

References

^ "Kicker Almanach" The Football Yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the kicker Sports Magazine
^ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables

Sources

Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen, (in German) An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga, publisher: DSFS
Kicker Almanach, (in German) The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945–2005 (in German) History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables, publisher: DSFS, published: 2006