Amateur-Oberliga Berlin - Overview

Overview

The league was formed under the name of Amateurliga Berlin in 1947 as the second tier of play in the then still united city of Berlin, below the "old" Oberliga Berlin.

The league operated with two groups in the 1947-48 season, split into four groups the year after, returned to two in 1949-50 and run in one single group from then onwards. After this season, the East Berlin clubs left the Berlin league system to join the East German instead.

It consisted of twelve teams from 1950, with the two first placed clubs gaining promotion to the Oberliga and the two bottom placed teams being relegated to the Landesliga. The number of clubs was extended to fifteen in 1952, with a third team being relegated from then on. In 1959, the number of clubs was extended to sixteen.

With the introduction of the Bundesliga in 1963, the "old" Oberliga Berlin was disbanded and the new second-tier Regionalliga Berlin became the highest league in the city of West-Berlin, absorbing most of its clubs. Three clubs from the Amateurliga Berlin were admitted to the new Regionalliga in 1963, these being the Blau-Weiß 90 Berlin, Union 06 Berlin and Reinickendorfer Füchse.

The league continued with sixteen clubs and three relegated teams but only one promotion spot now to the Regionalliga. With the enlargement of the Regionalliga in 1965, six clubs from the Amateurliga were admitted and a second promotion spot was granted to the league from then on. In 1969, a seventeenth club was added, the year after an eighteenth.

With the introduction of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord and the disbanding of the Regionalliga Berlin in 1974, the Amateurliga became the highest league in Berlin, still as the third tier of the German league system. Nine of the twelve clubs from the Regionalliga went to the Amateurliga which meant that the Amateurliga clubs placed ninth to eighteens were relegated to the Landesliga to keep the number of teams in the league to eighteen. With the reorganization of the Regionalligas in 1974, the league was renamed Amateur-Oberliga Berlin.

From 1974, the champions of the Amateurliga had to take part in a promotion play-off to determined the teams promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga. In 1976, the league was reduced to sixteen clubs. Unlike the other Oberliga champions, the winner of the Berlin league was not directly promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga after this but had to play out a series against the runners-up of the Oberliga Nord, which they lost both times, in 1979 and 1980.

The interception of a single 2nd Bundesliga in 1981 meant no team was promoted from the Oberligas that year and after 1981, the Oberliga Berlin champion had to play-off with the winners of the Oberligas Nord, Westfalen and Nordrhein.

With the German reunion came the reorganization of the football in former East Germany. The Oberliga Berlin was disbanded and its clubs spread between the NOFV-Oberligas Nord and Mitte. The teams placed fifteens and sixteenth went to the new Verbandsliga Berlin.