[euroman 4]

Could someone explain how promotion and relgelation works in the Bundesliga? I believe there is straight promotion/relegation but there is also a playoff system like in England but I don't know the specifics.

[mofo4life]

German Bundesliga: From 2008-09, bottom two teams automatically relegated, top two teams from the Second Bundesliga automatically promoted. Third team from bottom of the First Bundesliga plays a two-legged playoff with the third-place team of the Second Bundesliga, with the winner playing in the First Bundesliga.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promoti...gues_structure

[IASocFan]

That covers the promotion/relegation between the top two divisions. I'm still not sure how the lower divisions work. Any experts?

[sportfriend]

i actually have no idea how it works for the regionalliga and under

[Alex_K]

Originally Posted by IASocFan

That covers the promotion/relegation between the top two divisions. I'm still not sure how the lower divisions work. Any experts?

2. Bundesliga/3. Liga: 2 relegated/promoted directly, play-off 16th 2. BL vs. 3rd 3. Liga

3. Liga: 3 teams relegated directly

Regionalliga: 1 team promoted from each RL (Nord, West, Süd)/ 3 (West and Süd), resp. 4 (Nord) teams are Relegated.

Promotion to Regionalliga:

RL Nord (4 teams):
- champions of OL NOFV-Nord and OL NOFV-Süd
- winner of play-off between champions of OL Niedersachsen-West and OL Niedersachsen-Ost
- winner of play-off between champions of OL Hamburg, OL Bremen and OL Schleswig-Holstein

RL West (3 teams):
- champions and runners-up of OL NRW
- champions of OL Südwest

RL Süd (3 teams):
- champions of OL Bayern
- champions of OL B-W
- champions of OL Hessen

How they do relegation differs among the Oberligas (most leagues have direct releagtion, Bayern and Hessen have an addtional relegation play-off with the leagues directly below for one of the spots, the two NOFV leagues have an additional releagtion play off between the teams finishing 14th).

[Alex_K]

Historical development of the German league system, as well as the current pyramid:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_..._league_system