Country | Austria |
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Founded | 1959 |
Number of teams | 48 |
Level on pyramid | 3 |
Promotion to | First League |
Relegation to | Landesliga |
Domestic cup(s) | Austrian Cup |
International cup(s) | Europa League (via Austrian Cup) |
Current champions |
SV Horn (Ost) FC Blau-Weiß Linz (Mitte) WSG Wattens (West) |
Website | http://www.regionalliga.at/ |
2016–17 Austrian Regional Leagues |
The Austrian Regional League (German: Regionalliga) is the third-highest division in Austrian football, after the Austrian Bundesliga and the First League. It is divided into three conferences: East (Ost), covering the states of Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland; Central (Mitte), covering the states of Styria, Carinthia, Upper Austria and the exclave of East Tyrol; and West, covering the states of Salzburg, Tyrol (with the exception of East Tyrol) and Vorarlberg.
With introduction of the Staatsliga A as the first division and the Staatsliga B as the second division of Austrian football in the 1949/50 season, also the teams from the Austrian states were allowed to play for the first time again in the highest leagues since the end of the second world war. This entailed also a change of the categorization in the amateur football. While Central and Eastern Austrian football teams played in the respective national leagues, from which the champions got promoted either directly or by Play-Offs (Relegationsspiele) to the Staatsliga B, the Western states didn't participate in the Staatsliga B.
In 1949/50 the teams from Carinthia (Kärnten) and Salzburg already played in the again-created Tauernliga and from 1955/56 to 1958/59 in the Tauernliga South (Kärnten) and Tauernliga North (Salzburg). Besides the Arlbergliga consisted from 1950/51 to 1959/60 the clubs from Tyrol (Tirol) and Vorarlberg. These leagues can be regarded as second divisions (apart from the Staatsliga B) since their champions played in direct duels for promotion to the Staatsliga A.