Swabian football league system
| Swabian football league system |
|---|
| Nation |
 Germany
|
| State |
 Bavaria
|
 |
| Region |
| Swabia |
| Number of senior men's leagues in 2016-17 |
| 63 |
| Level on Pyramid |
| Level 7 to 11 |
The Swabian football league system is a league system operating in the Bavarian Regierungsbezirk of Swabia (German: Schwaben).
The Swabian football league system operates within the Bavarian and German football league systems. The highest league in Swabia was, from 1988 to 2012, the Bezirksoberliga Schwaben, in its final years the seventh tier of the German football league system. Until the 3. Liga was introduced in 2008, was the sixth tier of the league system, until the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 the fifth tier.
The league system in Swabia currently consists of five tiers, these being:
Unlike most other parts of Germany, Swabia does not allow all reserve teams to take part in the main league system. Reserve teams from clubs in the Kreisliga and below play in separate, parallel leagues without promotion or relegation. A reserve side can only enter the main league system when the first team gains entry to the Bezirksliga. When a first team is relegated back down from the Bezirksliga, the second team has to leave the main system again.
Clubs in the B-Klasse do not suffer relegation as there is no league below, it is the bottom of the league pyramid in Swabia.
In the other regions of Germany, where reserve sides are fully integrated, there is further leagues below the B-Klasse, usually the C-Klasse. In some areas there can also be a D and E-Klasse, like in Berlin.
The Swabian league system is home to some clubs not actually based in Swabia. The best known of those clubs, all from the western part of Upper Bavaria, are the FC Pipinsried and the TSV Landsberg.
In turn, some clubs from the very west of Swabia chose to play in the Württemberg league system, most successful of those are the SpVgg Au/Iller, FV Illertissen and the SpVgg Lindau. All up, 75 clubs from Swabia play in the Württemberg league system, 45 of those in the Donau/Iller region, the remainder spread over other border regions of the WFV. In late 2010, the idea was floated that those clubs could be forced to return to the Bavarian league system but this idea was dropped again. The Swabian league system also accommodates one club from Austria, the SV Kleinwalsertal, which plays in the A-Klasse Allgäu 4 since 2016-17.
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