Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt - Overview

Overview

The Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt was established in 1990 from fourteen clubs as a highest league for the German state of Sachsen-Anhalt, which was established after the league in October 1990, and the Sachsen-Anhalt Football Association, SFV (German: Fußballverband Sachsen-Anhalt). It compromised the area of the two Bezirksligen of Magdeburg and Halle. Each of those two Bezirke contributed seven clubs to the new league, with one club each coming from the 2nd Division. The Verbandsliga was established within the East German football league system and in cooperated in the league system of the united Germany after the end of its first season, in 1991.

The league expanded to sixteen clubs in its second season with two teams relegated. In the 1994-95 season it briefly returned to fourteen clubs, then expanded to eighteen with three relegated teams, a setup it retained for most seasons since.

Originally, the league was positioned below the NOFV-Oberliga Mitte, together with some of the clubs from the two halves of Berlin. As such, it was the fourth tier of the German league system. Upon the disbanding of this Oberliga in 1994, the Verbandsliga became a feeder league to the NOFV-Oberliga Süd, together with the Landesliga Thüringen and Landesliga Sachsen, which its champion is directly promoted to. With this change in the league system in 1994 went the introduction of the Regionalliga Nordost as third tier of the league system which meant the Verbandsligen slipped to fifth tier.

In 2008, the league again was demoted one level when the 3rd Liga was established. However, this changed nothing in the leagues status as a feeder league to the NOFV-Oberliga.

While the majority of clubs from the Verbandsliga Sachsen-Anhalt play in the NOFV-Oberliga Süd, some clubs from the very north of the state are occasionally entered in the northern division, the NOFV-Oberliga Nord, for geographical reasons. Three clubs so far have spent time in "exile":

• 1. FC Magdeburg (1994–96)
• 1. FC Lok Stendal (2000–03)
• FC Anhalt Dessau (1994–97), club now defunct

Due to changes in the German league system, the 2007-08 runners-up 1. FC Magdeburg II also had the chance to gain promotion, having to play the runners-up of the Verbandsliga Berlin, SV Lichtenberg. Two drawn games, 1-1 at home and 0-0 away meant promotion for Magdeburg's reserve team on the away-goal rule.