I have a question about the two Saarbrucken teams. When I was checking kicker online, I noticed 1.FC Saarbrucken sitting on top of the table in Sud Regionalligen. I went to the Oberligen and saw the 1.FC Saarbrucken II team in the Sudwest. Are the teams separate teams with the same "parent" company, separate teams with separate sponsorship or is the lower team the amateur side of the Regionalligen team. Thanks in advance.
Re Saarbrucken FC Saarbrucken, like the majority of clubs in Germany, has a full pro side and an amateur/reserve side. It does seem odd that they are only a division apart (Regional League = 3rd Tier, Oberliga = 4th tier) but that is only due to unusual circumstances. FC Saarbrucken were in the Bundesliga 2 last year (and pegged as promotion candidates) but had a terrible year and were relegated. The reserve side FC Saarbrucken II were in the Verbandsliga Saar (5th tier) last year but were promoted. So the answer to your question is it's just two different teams from one club. Look at Bayern Munich, the senior side plays in Bundesliga 1 and the amateur / reserve sides plays in Oberliga Bayern. I believe there is a clause in the DFB or Bundesliga laws that does not allow a reserve side of a club in Bundesliga 1 or 2 to be promoted above the Regional League, despite their record on the season.
Two simple rules: if a club has a pro team, then the second team may not promote to the first two divisions (in 2000/01 VfB Stuttgart Amateure were the only ones who would have achieved that). And: two teams of the same club may not play in the same division. Btw: You cannot say that 1.FC Saarbrücken in the Regionalliga is the parent team. 1.FC Saarbrücken as such is the club. They probably got about four to six men teams, about a dozen of youth teams and maybe even a handful a women teams. The one playing in Regionalliga is just their best male team, but in the internal structure not different to the other teams of the club. The numbers behind the name (II, III, IV etc.) are just marking the different teams. I is never mentioned, but it's generally the highest club. II is the second team if the first team is playing 3rd division maximum, otherwise the 2nd team gets the addition 'Amateure'.
Quite right, I was only addressing the top men's side and what would normally be called the amateur side (as I see from your post, it should be called FC Saarbrucken II). Saarbrucken has another 'reserve' side playing a division or two lower than Oberliga which is made up of Japanese players primarily. They also have a full youth set up and a women's side. Question for you: Why does the official top team have the '1.' preceding the name, as in 1. FC Saarbrucken, same as Nurnberg and Kaiserslautern in the Bundesliga 1, 1. FC Nurnberg and 1. FC Kaiserslautern.
It indicates that this is the first soccer club in town (time scale, not the best). Quite stupid IMO, also doesn't look very nice.
Agreed, it does look pretty silly. I much prefer TSV 1860 München to 1.FC München or 1.TSV München. Olaf, when saying the full names of clubs like Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken, does one say "Erst" or just ignore the 1. completely?
Depends. If you're talking about the club, then you usually either say city name only or the complete name including 1.FC. An announcer in the game will mostly just talk about FC or FCK as this is faster to say. But generally yes, you say the 1.