Regionalliga Nordost

The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany as well as West Berlin.
It is one of five leagues at the fourth tier, together with the Regionalliga Bayern, Regionalliga Südwest, Regionalliga Nord and the Regionalliga West. From 1994 to 2000 it was part of the third tier, until the first of many re-structurings of the league system. The last of these occurred in 2012, which saw the Regionalliga Nordost reinstated.

Overview

The Regionalliga Nordost was formed in 1994 to form a regional third level of play between the 2nd Bundesliga and the NOFV-Oberligas Nord, Mitte and Süd. The league was made up of 18 clubs, with two coming from the 2nd Bundesliga and six each from Mitte and Nord while the south only sent four. It was formed alongside three other Regionalligas, the Regionalliga Nord, West/Südwest and [Regionalliga Regionalliga Süd (1994–2012)|Süd (1994–2012)|Süd]. With the introduction of the Regionalliga also went the disbanding of the central division of the NOFV-Oberligas. Its clubs were spread between the remaining two.
The founding members of the Regionalliga Nordost were:
From the 2. Bundesliga:

From the NOFV-Oberliga Nord:

From the NOFV-Oberliga Mitte:

From the NOFV-Oberliga Süd:

The league contained 18 teams throughout its original six years.
The league winner was not always promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga. The champions of the Regionalligas Nord and Nordost had to play-off for a spot in the 2nd Bundesliga from 1996 to 2000. The winner of this contest was promoted, the loser faced the runners-ups of the Regionalligas Süd and West/Südwest for another spot in the second division.
In 1997, Energie Cottbus became the first club from the Regionalliga to reach a German Cup final, losing 2-0 to VfB Stuttgart.
The league was disbanded after six seasons. In 2000, the number of Regionalligas was reduced from four to two. Most clubs from the league went to the Regionalliga Nord, some clubs from the south went to the Regionalliga Süd.
With the changes in the German league system in 2008, the number of Regionalligas was extended to three, with the formation of the Regionalliga West, a league which essentially is a reformation of the Regionalliga West/Südwest. The Regionalliga Nordost was not recreated, however. Instead, its clubs remained in the Regionalliga Nord. Teams from its region playing in the Regionalliga Süd moved to the northern group as well, unless they qualified for the 2nd Bundesliga or 3rd Liga.

Disbanding

When the league was discontinued in 2000, the top seven clubs in the league went to the two remaining Regionalligas, five to the north and two to the south, these being the two clubs from the state of Thuringia. The other eleven league teams were relegated to the NOFV-Oberligas.
To the Regionalliga Nord:

To the Regionalliga Süd:

Reestablishment

In October 2010, another reform of the Regionalligas was agreed. The number of leagues was again expanded to five. The defunct Regionalliga Nordost was reestablished and a Regionalliga Bayern was established. Also, the Regionalliga West lost the clubs from the south west to a new league, formed out of those clubs and clubs from Regionalliga Süd outside Bavaria. The new system came into operation at the beginning of the 2012–13 season. The number of reserve teams per Regionalliga was limited to seven.
The five league champions, plus the runner-up of the Regionalliga Süd/Südwest, entered play-offs for the three promotion spots. The new leagues consisted of up to 22 clubs in their inaugural season, but were then reduced to between 16 and 18 clubs. The Regionalligas are not administered by the DFB, but rather by the regional football associations. The reorganisation of the Regionalligas, so soon after the last changes in 2008, became necessary because of a large number of insolvencies. These were caused by a lack of media interest in the leagues, large expenses and infrastructure demands.
As four teams were relegated from the 3rd Liga starting at the end of the 2018–19 season, the champions of the Regionalliga Nordost, the Regionalliga Südwest and the Regionalliga West were promoted directly to the 3. Liga. The remaining two champions, from the Regionalliga Bayern and Nord, played a two-legged promotion play-off for the last promotion spot. In 2020, the three direct promotion spots will go to the champions of the Regionalliga Südwest, Regionalliga Bayern and Regionalliga Nord, and the champions of the Regionalliga Nordost and Regionalliga West will participate in the play-off. This format was installed initially as a temporary solution until the DFB-Bundestag was unsuccessful on a format that could have enabled all Regionalliga champions to be promoted. In September 2019, the Bundestag delegates voted to grant the Südwest and West champions two direct promotions indefinitely starting in 2021. A third direct promotion place will be assigned according to a rotation principle among the Regionalliga Nord, Nordost and Bavarian champions. The representatives from the two remaining Regionalligen will determine the fourth promoted club in two-legged playoffs.

Winners and runners-up of the Regionalliga Nordost

The winners and runners-up of the league:

Season	Winner	Runner-up
1994–95	Carl Zeiss Jena	Sachsen Leipzig
1995–96	Tennis Borussia Berlin	Union Berlin
1996–97	Energie Cottbus	Erzgebirge Aue
1997–98	Tennis Borussia Berlin	Dynamo Dresden
1998–99	Chemnitzer FC	VfB Leipzig
1999–2000	Union Berlin	Dresdner SC
2012–13	RB Leipzig	Carl Zeiss Jena
2013–14	TSG Neustrelitz	1. FC Magdeburg
2014–15	1. FC Magdeburg	FSV Zwickau
2015–16	FSV Zwickau	Berliner AK 07
2016–17	Carl Zeiss Jena	Energie Cottbus
2017–18	Energie Cottbus	FSV Wacker 90 Nordhausen
2018–19	Chemnitzer FC	Berliner AK 07
2019–20	Lokomotive Leipzig	VSG Altglienicke
2020–21	Viktoria Berlin	VSG Altglienicke
2021–22	BFC Dynamo	Carl Zeiss Jena
2022–23	Energie Cottbus	Carl Zeiss Jena
2023–24	Energie Cottbus	Greifswalder FC
2024–25	Lokomotive Leipzig	Hallescher FC

Promoted teams in bold.

League statistics

The top goalscorers and spectator statistics for the league since it reformed in 2012:

Season	Total attendance	Average attendance	Best supported club	Average attendance	Top goalscorer	Goals
2012-13	434,272	1,809	RB Leipzig	7,563	Daniel Frahn	20
2013–14	369,841	1,541	1. FC Magdeburg	5,482	Christian Beck	22
2014–15	404,920	1,694	1. FC Magdeburg	8,576	Christian Beck	20
2015–16	296,828	970	Carl Zeiss Jena	3,531	Jonas Nietfeld Andis Shala Marc-Philipp Zimmermann	15
2016–17	393,375	1,286	Energie Cottbus	5,433	Federico Palacios Martínez	22
2017–18	363,472	1,188	Energie Cottbus	5,263	Rufat Dadashov	26
2018–19	355,121	1,161	Chemnitzer FC	4,885	Daniel Frahn	24
2019–20	305,421	1,468	Energie Cottbus	6,218	Felix Brügmann	16
2020–21	87,431	723	BSG Chemie Leipzig	1,571	Marc-Philipp Zimmermann	11
2021–22	468,364	1,233	Energie Cottbus	4,129	Christian Beck	23
2022–23	646,791		Energie Cottbus	6,025	Ziane Djamal	18

Placings in the Regionalliga Nordost

The following clubs have played in the league and achieved the following final positions:

Club	95	96	97	98	99	00	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
RB Leipzig							1	3L	2B	2B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B	B
1. FC Union Berlin	3	2	5	6	6	1	2B	2B	2B	2B	2B	2B	2B	B	B	B	B	B	B
1. FC Magdeburg				12	3	10	6	2	1	3L	3L	3L	2B	3L	3L	3L	2B	2B	2B
Erzgebirge Aue	9	5	2	7	7	3	2B	2B	2B	3L	2B	2B	2B	2B	2B	2B	3L	3L	3L
Dynamo Dresden	B	4	7	2	11	8	2B	2B	3L	3L	2B	2B	2B	2B	3L	2B	3L	3L	3L
Energie Cottbus	7	3	1	2B	2B	2B	2B	2B	3L	3L	2	1	3L	3	9	3	1	1	3L
1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig	2B	2B	2B	2B	2	9	10	15			10	6	6	1	7	6	4	10	1
Hallescher FC							3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	2
Rot-Weiß Erfurt²	5	7	3	5	10	7	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	5	18			3	13	3
FSV Zwickau	2B	2B	2B	2B	4	18	3	6	2	1	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	12	4
Carl Zeiss Jena	1	2B	2B	2B	9	4	2	3	4	7	1	3L	3L	3L	4	2	2	7	5
Greifswalder FC																	14	2	6
Chemnitzer FC	2B	2B	4	8	1	2B	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	3L	1	3L	10	5	8	9	7
BFC Dynamo	11	13	13	11	8	17			5	4	15	4	12	6	6	1	6	4	8
VSG Altglienicke												15	14	2	2	4	5	6	9
Hertha BSC II	13	18				11	5	12	6	10	9	8	4	5	12	8	9	14	10
ZFC Meuselwitz							7	10	14	14	14	10	10	10	18	14	15	11	11
Hertha Zehlendorf	10	12	15	15															12
SV Babelsberg 03				14	15	5	3L	14	11	6	5	5	7	16	11	11	10	5	13
BSG Chemie Leipzig												16		12	3	9	7	8	14
FSV 63 Luckenwalde										16	16	18			14	12	13	15	15
FC Eilenburg																16		16	16
FC Viktoria 1889 Berlin								8	15	12	4	13	11	8	1	3L	12	3	17
VFC Plauen⁶			10	10	5	13	13	9	16										18
Hansa Rostock II				18														17
Berliner AK 07							4	11	7	2	6	3	2	7	5	7	11	18
SV Lichtenberg														11	13	13	16
Germania Halberstadt							9	13	9	17		7	8	15	17	15	17
Tennis Borussia Berlin	4	1	6	1	2B	2B									16	10	18
FSV Union Fürstenwalde											13	9	13	4	8	17
FSV Optik Rathenow	15	17					11	16		18			17	14	19	18
VfB Auerbach							14	7	12	9	12	11	9	9	15	19
SV Tasmania Berlin																20
Bischofswerdaer FV 08	12	16											16	17	20
FSV Wacker 90 Nordhausen¹		11	12	17				5	3	3	7	2	3	13
FC Oberlausitz Neugersdorf										5	8	12	15
FSV Budissa Bautzen									13	13	17	14	18
TSG Neustrelitz							8	1	8	8	18	17
RB Leipzig II³										11	3
FC Schönberg 95⁴										15	11
Union Berlin II⁵							12	4	10
Energie Cottbus II							15
Torgelower SV Greif							16
Dresdner SC					13	2
Sachsen Leipzig	2	6	9	4	14	6
Eisenhüttenstädter FC Stahl	8	14	8	3	17	12
VfL Halle 1896						14
Tennis Borussia Berlin II						15
Lok Altmark Stendal	16	8	11	9	12	16
Spandauer SV	14	10	16	13	16
SD Croatia Berlin					18
Reinickendorfer Füchse	6	9	14	16
SC Charlottenburg			17
FSV Velten		15	18
BSV Stahl Brandeburg	17
Türkiyemspor Berlin	18

¹ Wacker Nordhausen withdrew for financial reasons at the end of the 2019–20 season.² Rot-Weiß Erfurt declared insolvency during the 2019–20 season and was automatically relegated.³ RB Leipzig II was withdrawn from competition at the end of the 2016–17 season.⁴ FC Schönberg withdrew from the league also for financial reasons at the end of the 2016–17 season.⁵ 1. FC Union Berlin II was withdrawn from competition at the end of the 2014–15 season.⁶ VFC Plauen also declared insolvency during the 2014–15 season and was automatically relegated.