1.
Bayernliga
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The Bayernliga is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league in the state of Bavaria and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of fourteen Oberligas in German football, the tier of the German football league system. Until the introduction of the 3, liga in 2008 it was the fourth tier of the league system, until the introduction of the Regionalligas in 1994 the third tier. From the 2012-13 season onwards, the league has been divided once more into a northern, the league sits directly under the Regionalliga Bayern and above the Landesligas, which were expanded in number from three to five at the end of the 2011-12 season. The league run then in parallel with the Landesligas of Hessen, Württemberg, the year after, the leagues went to thirteen teams each. In 1948, the league was reunited in one group of sixteen teams with the top-two clubs gaining promotion, the 1949–50 season was run on fourteen clubs with the top-five clubs gaining promotion to the new 2. The league was renamed Amateurliga Bayern, a name it would carry until 1978 and it consisted of sixteen clubs in its first season, then went to eighteen and later nineteen. In 1953, the split into a northern and a southern group again. Being the largest of the southern German federations, Bavaria felt disadvantaged by the fact that only its champion was permitted to take part in the promotion rounds. The number of teams in the two leagues kept fluctuating and sometimes clubs from central Bavaria were moved between divisions to balance out the strength, in those years up to 1963, the leagues below the Bayernliga were the 2. Amateurligas, which there was supposed to be seven of, according to the number of Bezirke in Bavaria, however, some, like Oberbayern, split their 2nd Amateurliga in more than one division. In 1963, with the introduction of the Bundesliga, the Oberliga Süd, the Amateurliga Bayern was reunited and now came under the Regionalliga Süd, the new second tier of the league system in the south. The Amateurliga retained its status as a tier three league, seven clubs from the northern and southern division each plus four from the 2nd Oberliga made up the newly reunited league in 1963. The league champion still had to compete for promotion with the winners of the other southern German amateur leagues while the three teams were relegated. For the Bayernliga, this meant little change, the winner still had to play-off for promotion to the new league. The year 1978 saw a reformation of the highest Amateurligas in Germany, their number was halved from sixteen to eight, the Amateurligas were also renamed Amateur-Oberligas, which was generally shortened to AOL or, more commonly, just Oberliga. In the south, this meant the Bayernliga now run parallel to the Amateur-Oberligas of Hessen, Baden-Württemberg, direct promotion for the southern champions only lasted two seasons however, 1978–79 and 1979–80. Bundesliga was united to one division, making it necessary for the Oberliga champions to have a promotion round again
2.
Kit (association football)
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In association football, kit is the standard equipment and attire worn by players. The sports Laws of the Game specify the minimum kit which a player must use, footballers generally wear identifying numbers on the backs of their shirts. Professional clubs also usually display players surnames or nicknames on their shirts, Football kit has evolved significantly since the early days of the sport when players typically wore thick cotton shirts, knickerbockers and heavy rigid leather boots. The Laws of the Game set out the equipment which must be worn by all players in Law 4. Five separate items are specified, shirt, shorts, socks, footwear, goalkeepers are allowed to wear tracksuit bottoms instead of shorts. While most players wear studded football boots, the Laws do not specify that these are required, shirts must have sleeves, and goalkeepers must wear shirts which are easily distinguishable from all other players and the match officials. Thermal undershorts may be worn, but must be the colour as the shorts themselves. Shin pads must be covered entirely by the stockings, be made of rubber, plastic or a similar material, and provide a reasonable degree of protection. The only other restriction on equipment defined in the Laws of the Game is the requirement that a player must not use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself or another player. In the event of a match between teams who would wear identical or similar colours the away team must change to a different colour. The England national team plays in red shirts even when it is not required. Many professional clubs also have a kit, ostensibly to be used if both their first-choice and away colours are deemed too similar to those of an opponent. Most professional clubs have retained the basic colour scheme for several decades. Teams representing countries in international competition generally wear national colours in common with other sporting teams of the same nation, shirts are normally made of a polyester mesh, which does not trap the sweat and body heat in the same way as a shirt made of a natural fibre. Depending on local rules, there may be restrictions on how large these logos may be or on what logos may be displayed, competitions such as the Premier League may also require players to wear patches on their sleeves depicting the logo of the competition. The captain of team is usually required to wear an elasticated armband around the left sleeve to identify him as the captain to the referee. Most current players wear specialist football boots, which can be either of leather or a synthetic material. Modern boots are cut slightly below the ankles, as opposed to the high-ankled boots used in former times, studs may be either moulded directly to the sole or be detachable, normally by means of a screw thread
3.
Away colours
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Away colours are a choice of coloured clothing used in team sports. They are required to be worn by one team during a game between teams that would wear the same colours as each other, or similar colours. This change prevents confusion for officials, players, and spectators, in most sports it is the visiting team that must change – second-choice kits are commonly known as away kits or change kits in British English, and road uniforms in American English. Some sports leagues mandate that teams must always wear an alternative kit. In some sports, conventionally the home team has changed its kit, in most cases, a team wears its away kit only when its primary kit would clash with the colours of the home team. However, sometimes teams wear away colours by choice, occasionally even in a home game, at some clubs, the away kit has become more popular than the home version. Replica home and away kits are available for fans to buy. Some teams also have produced third-choice kits, or even old-fashioned throwback uniforms, in American sports, road teams usually wear a change uniform regardless of a potential colour clash. Further, almost all road uniforms are white in American football, in the National Basketball Association, home uniforms are white or yellow, and visiting teams wear a darker colour. In the United States, color vs. color games are a rarity, most teams choose to wear their color jerseys at home, with the road team changing to white in most cases. White road uniforms gained prominence with the rise of television in the 1950s, a white vs. color game was easier to follow in black-and-white. According to Phil Hecken, until the mid 1950′s, not only was color versus color common in the NFL, even long after the advent of color television, the use of white jerseys has remained in almost every game. The NFLs current rules require that a home jerseys must be either white or official team color throughout the season. If a team insists on wearing its home uniforms on the road, the road team might instead wear a third jersey, such as the Seattle Seahawks Wolf Grey alternate. According to the Gridiron Uniform Database, the Cleveland Browns wore white for home game of the 1955 season. The only times they wore brown was for games at Philadelphia and the New York Giants, in 1964 the Baltimore Colts, Browns, Vikings and Rams wore white regularly for their home games according to Tim Brulias research. The St. Louis Cardinals wore white for several of their home games, until 1964 Dallas had worn blue at home, but it was not an official rule that teams should wear their colored jerseys at home. The use of white jerseys was instigated by general manager Tex Schramm, the Cowboys still wear white at home today
4.
Football in Germany
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Football is the most popular sport in Germany. The German Football Association is the national governing body, with 6.6 million members organized in over 26,000 football clubs. There is a system, with the Bundesliga and 2. The winner of the Bundesliga is crowned the German football champion, additionally, there are national cup competitions, most notably the DFB-Pokal and DFL-Supercup. The Germany national football team has won four FIFA World Cups and it also holds a record three UEFA European Championships. The Germany womens national team has won two FIFA Womens World Cups and a record eight UEFA European Womens Championships. Germany is the nation that has won both the mens and womens World Cup. In addition, Germany is the nation to have won the applicable regional/continental championship for both the mens and womens team. No team has more combined mens and womens World Cup championships, the first football match arguably took place in Braunschweig in 1874. Two schoolteachers, August Hermann and Konrad Koch, initiated the first match after Hermann had obtained a round football from England, in 1875, Koch published the first German version of the rules of football, although Kochs version of the game still closely resembled Rugby football. The Dresden English Football Club is considered the first modern football club in Germany and it was founded in 1874 by Englishmen living and working around Dresden. In the following 20 years the game achieved a growing popularity, Football clubs were founded in Berlin, Hamburg and Karlsruhe. On 28 January 1900, representatives from 86 football clubs from German-speaking areas in and outside the German Empire met in the restaurant Mariengarten in Leipzig, the founding meeting was led by E. J. Kirmse, chairman of the Leipziger Fussball Verband. Ferdinand Hueppe, representing the DFC Prag, was elected first president of the DFB, the first championship beyond municipal areas was held in 1898 from the Verband Sueddeutscher Fussball-Vereine, later affiliated with the DFB. The German national football team represents Germany in international football competitions since 1908 and it is controlled by the German Football Association DFB, the governing body of football in Germany. After the war, Germany was occupied in three states, the DFB and its team continued in what was called West Germany, while the Saarland and East Germany fielded separate teams for some years. The FIFA World Cup 1974 was staged in West Germany, meeting on 22 June 1974 in a politically charged match in Hamburg, East Germany beat West Germany 1–0, on a goal by Jürgen Sparwasser. Both German teams advanced to the second round anyway, the GDR team was eliminated there, while the DFB team eventually went on to win the tournament
5.
Association football
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
6.
Sonthofen
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Sonthofen is the most southerly town of Germany, located in the Oberallgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. Neighbouring Oberstdorf is situated 14 km farther south but is not classified as a town, Sonthofen is located at 47°30′57″N 10°16′52″E. In 2005, Sonthofen was awarded Alpenstadt des Jahres, in World War II Sonthofen was bombed twice because Adolf Hitler had built the Ordensburg Sonthofen where young boys were trained for service in Nazi Party organizations. The German Armys NBC Defence School is located in barracks in Sonthofen. Sonthofen was given rights on 18 August 1963. It is widely known for its milk and cheese products and as a tourist destination. Sonthofen was awarded Alpine Town of the Year 2005. Media related to Sonthofen at Wikimedia Commons Sonthofen travel guide from Wikivoyage Sonthofen. de Official Sonthofen website, partly English History of Sonthofen - alpine city of the year
7.
Bavaria
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Bavaria is a free state and one of 16 federal states of Germany. Located in the German southeast with an area of 70,548 square kilometres and its territory comprises roughly a fifth of the total land area of Germany, and, with 12.9 million inhabitants, it is Germanys second most populous state. Munich, Bavarias capital and largest city, is the third largest city in Germany, the Duchy of Bavaria dates back to the year 555. In the 17th century CE, the Duke of Bavaria became a Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Bavaria existed from 1806 to 1918, when Bavaria became a republic. In 1946, the Free State of Bavaria re-organised itself on democratic lines after the Second World War, Bavaria has a unique culture, largely because of the states Catholic majority and conservative traditions. Bavarians have traditionally been proud of their culture, which includes such as Oktoberfest. The state also has the second largest economy among the German states by GDP figures, modern Bavaria also includes parts of the historical regions of Franconia, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The Bavarians emerged in a north of the Alps, previously inhabited by Celts. The Bavarians spoke Old High German but, unlike other Germanic groups, rather, they seem to have coalesced out of other groups left behind by Roman withdrawal late in the 5th century. These peoples may have included the Celtic Boii, some remaining Romans, Marcomanni, Allemanni, Quadi, Thuringians, Goths, Scirians, Rugians, the name Bavarian means Men of Baia which may indicate Bohemia, the homeland of the Celtic Boii and later of the Marcomanni. They first appear in written sources circa 520, a 17th century Jewish chronicler David Solomon Ganz, citing Cyriacus Spangenberg, claimed that the diocese was named after an ancient Bohemian king, Boiia, in the 14th century BCE. From about 554 to 788, the house of Agilolfing ruled the Duchy of Bavaria and their daughter, Theodelinde, became Queen of the Lombards in northern Italy and Garibald was forced to flee to her when he fell out with his Frankish overlords. Garibalds successor, Tassilo I, tried unsuccessfully to hold the frontier against the expansion of Slavs. Tassilos son Garibald II seems to have achieved a balance of power between 610 and 616, after Garibald II little is known of the Bavarians until Duke Theodo I, whose reign may have begun as early as 680. From 696 onwards he invited churchmen from the west to organize churches and his son, Theudebert, led a decisive Bavarian campaign to intervene in a succession dispute in the Lombard Kingdom in 714, and married his sister Guntrud to the Lombard King Liutprand. At Theodos death the duchy was divided among his sons, at Hugberts death the duchy passed to a distant relative named Odilo, from neighbouring Alemannia. He was defeated near Augsburg in 743 but continued to rule until his death in 748, saint Boniface completed the peoples conversion to Christianity in the early 8th century. Bavaria was in ways affected by the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century
8.
German football league system
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The top three professional levels contain one division each. Below this, the semi-professional and amateur levels have progressively more parallel divisions, teams that finish at the top of their division at the end of each season can rise higher in the pyramid, whilst those that finish at the bottom find themselves sinking further down. In theory it is possible for even the lowest local amateur club to rise to the top of the system, on top of the system sit the level 1 Bundesliga and the level two 2. Bundesliga, both organized by the professional German Football League, the two top flights then are followed by the level three 3. Liga, the lowest full professional division in Germany, held by the German Football Association itself, for Bavaria, the Bavarian Football Association, a member state association of the Southern German Football Association, runs their top division under their own jurisdiction. Starting at level five, the various fully amateur divisions are usually governed by the 21 state associations, after each season, the winners of the Bundesliga are crowned German football champions. The bottom two Bundesliga teams are relegated to 2, Bundesliga, whereas the best two teams of the second level promote to the top flight. Additionally, the third-last ranked team of Bundesliga and the third-best ranked team of 2, Bundesliga play a promotion/relegation playoff for the final spot in the next Bundesliga edition. Bundesliga teams are relegated to 3, liga, whereas the best two teams of the third level promote to the second flight. Additionally, the third-last ranked team of 2, Bundesliga and the third-best ranked team of 3. Liga play a playoff for the final spot in the next 2. The bottom three teams of 3, the two regional bodies Southwestern Regional Football Association and Southern German Football Association share the jurisdiction on the Regionalliga Südwest. As an exception to the promotion rules within the German league system. Instead the five division winners along with the runner-up of the Regionalliga Südwest enter a playoff for three promotion spots to the 3. The champions enter a promotion playoff along with the winners of the four other Regionalliga divisions, the champions enter a promotion playoff along with the winners of the four other Regionalliga divisions and the Regionalliga Südwest runner-up for three promotions to the 3. The champions enter a promotion playoff along with the winners of the four other Regionalliga divisions, the champions and the runner-up enter a promotion playoff along with the winners of the four other Regionalliga divisions for three promotions to the 3. By rule, the champions and the runner-up will not face each other in the promotion playoffs, mostly in line with the geographical borders of the 16 German states, amateur football is organised by 21 state football associations. Three states are subdivided into more than one state football association, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia is subdivided into three state associations, these being Middle Rhine, Lower Rhine and Westphalia
9.
Bezirksoberliga Bayern
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The seven Bezirksoberligas Bayern were the third highest level of the Bavarian football league system, below the Bayernliga and the Landesliga Bayern from 1988 to 2012. They were the seventh tier of the German football league system, until the introduction of the 3. Liga in 2008 it was the sixth tier of the league system, the seven Bezirksoberligas were introduced in 1988 to create a highest single-division playing level for each of the seven Bezirke. Before that the Bezirksligas were located right below the Landesliga in the pyramid and they were created upon suggestion of the 1. However, it took this club till 1998 to gain promotion to the Bezirksoberliga Schwaben, the winners of the seven Bezirksoberligas are automatically promoted to their respective Landesliga. The second-placed teams face a series of matches to determine one or two more promotion spots. Teams relegated from the Bezirksoberliga drop into the Bezirksliga of which there are two, except Oberbayern where there are three. Only one club has managed to win a Bezirksoberliga four times, the German term Bezirksoberliga is best translated as County Premier League. The Bezirke are political and administrative units similar to a county in size, with the league reform at the end of the 2011-12 season, which includes an expansion of the number of Landesligas from three to five, the Bezirksoberligas were disbanded. Instead, the Bezirksligas took the place of the Bezirksoberligas below the Landesligas once more, the clubs from the Bezirksoberligas joined the following leagues, Champions, Promotion round to the Bayernliga, winners to the Bayernliga, losers to the Landesliga. Teams placed 2nd to 6th, Directly qualified to the Landesliga, teams placed 7th or worse, Between two and six additional Landesliga places, according to the size of the Bezirk, to be determined in a play-off round with the Bezirksliga champions. Non-qualified teams to remain at this tier
