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3. Liga

Founded	2008; 10 years ago (2008)
Country	Germany
Confederation	UEFA
Number of teams	20
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	2. Bundesliga
Relegation to	Regionalliga Nord Regionalliga Nordost Regionalliga West Regionalliga Südwest Regionalliga Bayern
Domestic cup(s)	DFB-Pokal
International cup(s)	UEFA Europa League (via winning DFB-Pokal)
Current champions	1. FC Magdeburg (1st title) (2017–18)
Most championships	Eintracht Braunschweig 1. FC Heidenheim Karlsruher SC VfL Osnabrück SV Sandhausen Union Berlin Arminia Bielefeld Dynamo Dresden MSV Duisburg 1. FC Magdeburg (1 title each)
2018–19 3. Liga

The 3. Liga (German: Dritte Liga when written in full; more explicit: 3. Fußball-Liga), is the third division of football in Germany. The league started with the beginning of the 2008–09 season, when it replaced the Regionalliga as the third tier football league in Germany. In the German football league system, it is positioned between the 2. Bundesliga and the semi-professional Regionalliga, which became the fourth division and initially consisted of three groups of 18 clubs playing separately.^[1] In Germany, the 3. Liga is the highest division that a football club's reserve team can play in.

History

3. Liga logo from 2008 to 2014

Special logo used during the 2017–18 season

On 8 September 2006, the German Football Association, the DFB, announced the formation of the 3. Liga. It was originally anticipated that the league's name would be 3. Bundesliga, but the DFB chose 3. Liga instead, reflecting the fact that the league will be directly administered by the DFB, not by the German Football League DFL (Deutsche Fußball Liga) who runs both Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga.^[2]

The first match of the 3. Liga was played on 25 July 2008 between Rot-Weiß Erfurt and Dynamo Dresden at the Steigerwaldstadion in Erfurt. Dynamo Dresden won the match 1–0, with Halil Savran scoring the only goal in the closing stages of the first half.

Financial situation

From its foundation in 2008 to 2013, the league operated at a financial loss, with a record deficit of €20.9 million in 2012–13. The 2013–14 season saw the league make a profit for the first time, of €4.9 million. The league earned €164.5 million, well behind the two Bundesligas above it, but also well ahead of other professional sports leagues in Germany. The Deutsche Eishockey Liga followed with €106.1 million and the Basketball Bundesliga and Handball-Bundesliga were each around the €90 million mark.^[3] This makes it the third-most economically successful professional league in all German sports.^[4]

Clubs

Aalen

Aspach

Braun-
schweig

Cottbus

Halle

Jena

Kaiserslautern

Karlsruhe

Köln

Lotte

Meppen

Munich

Münster

Osnabrück

Rostock

Uerdingen

Unterhaching

Wiesbaden

Würzburg

Zwickau

Locations of the 2018–19 3. Liga teams

Set-up

The teams which are not reserve teams of Bundesliga teams among the 20 teams in the league compete for promotion to the 2. Bundesliga, while the three bottom teams are relegated to one of the five Regionalligen: Regionalliga Nord, Regionalliga Nordost, Regionalliga West, Regionalliga Südwest, and Regionalliga Bayern. If, however, a reserve team is playing in the 3. Liga and the respective first team is relegated to the 3. Liga, the reserve team will be relegated to the Regionalliga regardless of its league position.

Qualifying for the 3. Liga

At the end of the 2007–08 season, the two best non-reserve teams from each of the two divisions of the Regionalliga were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. The teams ranked third to tenth in both Regionalliga entered the new 3. Liga, joining the four teams relegated from the 2. Bundesliga to form the new 20-team league. Teams finishing 11th or lower in their Regionalliga remained where they were.

On 18 May 2008, at the end of the 2007–08 2. Bundesliga season, four clubs were relegated from the 2. Bundesliga and became charter members of the 3. Liga: Kickers Offenbach, Erzgebirge Aue, SC Paderborn and FC Carl Zeiss Jena.

On 31 May 2008, at the end of the 2007–08 Regionalliga seasons, clubs placing third through tenth in the Regionalliga Nord and the Regionalliga Süd also qualified for the new 3. Liga.

From the Regionalliga Nord:

• Fortuna Düsseldorf


• Union Berlin


• Werder Bremen II


• Borussia Wuppertal


• Rot-Weiß Erfurt


• Dynamo Dresden


• Kickers Emden


• Eintracht Braunschweig

From the Regionalliga Süd:

• VfB Stuttgart II


• VfR Aalen


• SV Sandhausen


• SpVgg Unterhaching


• Wacker Burghausen


• Bayern Munich II


• Jahn Regensburg


• Stuttgarter Kickers

Promotion and relegation

The winner and runner-up in a given season are automatically promoted to the 2. Bundesliga. The third place team enters a home/away playoff against the 16th placed team of the 2. Bundesliga for the right to enter/stay in the 2. Bundesliga. Teams placing in the bottom three are automatically sent to the Regionalliga.

• 
  Bold denotes team earned promotion.

League statistics

Up to and including the 2017–18 season the top goal scorers, attendance statistics and records for the league are:

Attendance Season League total attendance League average attendance Best supported club Average attendance 2008–09[5] 2,134,425 5,617 Fortuna Düsseldorf 14,875 2009–10[6] 1,949,392 5,130 Dynamo Dresden 14,440 2010–11[7] 2,122,025 5,584 Eintracht Braunschweig 17,425 2011–12[8] 1,736,392 4,569 Arminia Bielefeld 8,935 2012–13[9] 2,341,685 6,162 Karlsruher SC 11,974 2013–14[10] 2,306,918 6,071 RB Leipzig 16,734 2014–15[11] 2,563,078 6,745 Dynamo Dresden 22,748 2015–16[12] 2,665,994 7,068 Dynamo Dresden 27,554 2016–17[13] 2,265,088 5,976 1. FC Magdeburg 17,101 2017–18[14] 2,348,630 6,181 1. FC Magdeburg 18,231

Top scorers Season Player Goals Club 2008–09 [15] Anton Fink 21 SpVgg Unterhaching 2009–10[16] Régis Dorn 22 SV Sandhausen 2010–11[17] Domi Kumbela Patrick Mayer 19 Eintracht Braunschweig 1. FC Heidenheim 2011–12[18] Marcel Reichwein 17 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 2012–13[19] Anton Fink Fabian Klos 20 Chemnitzer FC Arminia Bielefeld 2013–14[20] Dominik Stroh-Engel 27 Darmstadt 98 2014–15[21] Fabian Klos 23 Arminia Bielefeld 2015–16[22] Justin Eilers 23 Dynamo Dresden 2016–17[23] Christian Beck 17 1. FC Magdeburg 2017–18[24] Manuel Schäffler 22 Wehen Wiesbaden

Records

As of 12 May 2018

Placings in the 3. Liga

The following clubs have played in the league and achieved the following final positions:^[29]

Notes

• 
  ¹ Kickers Offenbach were refused a 3. Liga licence at the end of the 2012–13 season and relegated to the Regionalliga. SV Darmstadt 98, placed 18th originally, were instead placed in 17th position and were not relegated.^[30]


• 
  ² TSV 1860 Munich were unable to obtain a 3. Liga licence at the end of the 2016–17 season and relegated to the Regionalliga. SC Paderborn 07, placed 18th originally and who submitted a 3. Liga licence application, remained in the league for the 2017–18 season.^[31][32]


• 
  ³ TuS Koblenz withdrew from the league after the 2011–12 season; Bremen II, placed 18th originally, were instead placed in 17th position and were not relegated.


• 
  ⁴ RW Ahlen did not receive a licence for the 2011–12 season, originally finishing 17th after 2010–11. The club was placed in 20th position and relegated. Burghausen, placed 18th originally, were instead placed in 17th position and were not relegated. Ahlen did not request a licence in the Regionalliga and started the new season in the Oberliga.


• 
  ⁵ Kickers Emden withdrew from the league after the 2008–09 season; Burghausen, placed 18th originally, were instead placed in 17th position and were not relegated. Emden became insolvent in 2012.

Promotion rounds

To the 2. Bundesliga

At the end of the regular season the third placed team in the 3. Liga play the 16th placed team in the 2. Bundesliga over two matches. The overall winner plays in the 2. Bundesliga in the following season, and the loser in the 3. Liga.

2008–09^[33]

2009–10^[34]

2010–11^[35]

2011–12^[36]

2012–13^[37]

2013–14^[38]

2014–15^[39]

2015–16^[40]

2016–17^[41]

2017–18^[42]

To the 3. Liga

Since the 2012–13 season, the champions of the five Regionalligas and the runners-up of the Regionalliga Südwest enter an end-of-the season play-off to determine the three teams promoted to the 3. Liga.

Key

• Winner in bold.

References

External links

• 
  Deutscher Fußball-Bund (DFB) (in German)
  


• 
  kicker.de (in German)
  


• 
  3. Liga at Weltfussball.de (in German)
  


• 
  German 3.Liga (www.3-liga.com) (in German)
  


• 3. Liga at Soccerway.com


• 
  League321.com – German football league tables, records & statistics database