Under 19 Bundesliga (football)
| Country | Germany |
|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA |
| Founded | 1968 (Championship) 2003 (Bundesliga) |
| Divisions | 3 |
| Number of teams | 42 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Domestic cup(s) | DFB-Junioren-Vereinspokal |
| International cup(s) | UEFA Youth League |
| Current champions |
Borussia Dortmund (2016–17) |
| Most championships | VfB Stuttgart (10 titles) |
The Under 19 Bundesliga (German: A-Junioren Bundesliga) is the highest level in German Under 19 football. It was created in 2003 and is divided in three divisions (Nord/Nordost, West und Süd/Südwest) with 14 teams each. The winner of each divisions and the second-placed team from the Süd/Südwest division join the play-offs for the German U19 champions.
The forerunner of the Under 19 Bundesliga was the A-Jugend-Regionalliga. In the summer of 2003 the divisions North and Northeast as well as South and Southwest were merged, the division West was simply renamed. The intent was to make youth football more competitive.
The league was formed in 2003, when the five U 19 Regionalligas merged to form the three Bundesligas as follows:
The Regionalligas itself had only been formed in 1996, to replace an even more regionalised system with separate leagues for every regional football association. Originally, the DFB planned to organise the league in two regional divisions but was eventually forced to operate with three.
In 2007, the German Football Association followed this example reorganised the under 17 Regionalligas in the same fashion, forming the Under 17 Bundesliga.
The clubs in each of the three divisions play a home-and-away round whereby there is no inter-league play. Every club plays therefore 26 regular season games. The bottom three teams in each division are relegated to the next level below, in turn, the best three teams from the region are promoted.
The winner of each league plus the runners-up of the South/Southwest region play in the finals round for the German Under 19 championship. The semi-finals are played in a home-and-away format. If the two semi-final teams playing each other are level on points and goals after the second game, there will be a penalty shoot-out. No extra time will be played.
The two semi-final winners reach the final, which is held at the location of the winner of the predetermined semi-final A, unless the teams stadium does not comply with DFB requirement, in which case an alternative venue will be determined. In the final, which is one game only, in case of a draw after normal time, a 20-minute extra time will be played. If the game is still a draw, a penalty shoot-out will determine the winner.
The three Bundesligas are not geographically balanced, North/Northeast covers a large area while West a rather small one, but in population termes, the arrangement is much more level. The three leagues cover the following states:
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