1996–97 Regionalliga

The 1996–97 Regionalliga was the third season of the Regionalliga as the third tier of German football. The league was organised in four regional divisions, Nord, Nordost, West-Südwest and Süd.

Regionalliga

Season	1996–97
Champions	Hannover 96 (N) Energie Cottbus (NO) SG Wattenscheid 09 (W/SW) 1. FC Nürnberg (S)
Promoted	Energie Cottbus SG Wattenscheid 09 1. FC Nürnberg SpVgg Greuther Fürth
Relegated	SC Concordia FC Altona 93 FC St. Pauli (A) Lüneburger SK SV Lurup SC Charlottenburg FSV Velten 90 SC Hauenstein 1. FC Bocholt SV Elversberg SpVgg Ludwigsburg SG Quelle Fürth SG Egelsbach
Matches played	1,224
Goals scored	3,555 (2.9 per match)
Top goalscorer	Hakan Cengiz (VfL Herzlake) - 28
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

FC Energie Cottbus, SG Wattenscheid 09, 1. FC Nürnberg and SpVgg Greuther Fürth were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga.

North

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Hannover 96 (C)	34	26	5	3	105	25	+80	83	Qualification to promotion play-off
2	Eintracht Braunschweig	34	25	3	6	77	26	+51	78
3	SV Werder Bremen II	34	21	5	8	71	36	+35	68
4	VfL Osnabrück	34	17	13	4	51	21	+30	64
5	Hamburger SV II	34	19	7	8	66	40	+26	64
6	TuS Celle FC	34	16	5	13	57	57	0	53
7	1. SC Norderstedt	34	13	11	10	57	36	+21	50
8	VfL Herzlake	34	14	7	13	54	56	−2	49
9	Kickers Emden	34	10	11	13	40	49	−9	41
10	SC Göttingen 05	34	8	15	11	33	42	−9	39
11	Sportfreunde Ricklingen	34	9	10	15	36	60	−24	37
12	SV Atlas Delmenhorst	34	10	6	18	48	60	−12	36
13	SV Wilhelmshaven	34	9	8	17	35	58	−23	35
14	Concordia Hamburg (R)	34	7	12	15	35	56	−21	33	Relegation to Oberliga
15	FC Altona 93[a] (R)	34	7	9	18	33	68	−35	30
16	FC St. Pauli II (R)	34	6	12	16	25	61	−36	30
17	Lüneburger SK (R)	34	7	7	20	31	61	−30	28
18	SV Lurup Hamburg (R)	34	5	8	21	32	74	−42	23

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Altona 93 withdrew from the league.

Top scorers

#	Player	Club	Goals
1.	Hakan Cengiz	VfL Herzlake	28
2.	Vladan Milovanović	Hannover 96	27
3.	Kreso Kovacec	Hannover 96	25
4.	Miloš Kolaković	Eintracht Braunschweig	19
5.	Markus Burmeister	1. SC Norderstedt	14
6.	Daniel Stendel	Hamburger SV (A)	16
7.	Arie van Lent	Werder Bremen (A)	15
8.	Stephan Prause	Kickers Emden	14
9.	Uwe Harttgen	Werder Bremen (A)	13
	Christian Jablonski	Atlas Delmenhorst
	Leo Marić	Eintracht Braunschweig
	Tibor Nadj	Hamburger SV (A)

North-East

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	FC Energie Cottbus (C, P)	34	25	7	2	80	17	+63	82	Qualification to promotion play-off
2	FC Erzgebirge Aue	34	20	11	3	60	32	+28	71
3	FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt	34	19	9	6	80	39	+41	66
4	Chemnitzer FC	34	19	7	8	60	27	+33	64
5	1. FC Union Berlin	34	19	5	10	51	37	+14	62
6	Tennis Borussia Berlin	34	16	13	5	60	27	+33	61
7	Dynamo Dresden	34	17	6	11	57	38	+19	57
8	Eisenhüttenstädter FC Stahl	34	13	10	11	56	57	−1	49
9	FC Sachsen Leipzig	34	13	7	14	61	52	+9	46
10	VFC Plauen	34	10	14	10	44	50	−6	44
11	FSV Lok Altmark Stendal	34	10	13	11	38	34	+4	43
12	Wacker Nordhausen	34	9	9	16	41	62	−21	36
13	FC Berlin	34	7	14	13	29	48	−19	35
14	Reinickendorfer Füchse	34	8	8	18	32	42	−10	32
15	Hertha Zehlendorf	34	4	15	15	26	52	−26	27
16	Spandauer SV	34	6	7	21	33	72	−39	25
17	SC Charlottenburg (R)	34	3	8	23	29	74	−45	17	Relegation to Oberliga
18	FSV Velten (R)	34	4	5	25	25	102	−77	17

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Top scorers

#	Player	Club	Goals
1.	Marco Weißhaupt	Rot-Weiß Erfurt	21
2.	Ilija Aračić	Chemnitzer FC	18
	Daniel Bärwolf	Rot-Weiß Erfurt
4.	Mike Sadlo	Erzgebirge Aue	17
5.	Oleg Golowan	FC Sachsen Leipzig	14
6.	Toralf Konetzke	Energie Cottbus	15
7.	Ronny Hebestreit	Rot-Weiß Erfurt	14
8.	Thomas Adler	Tennis Borussia Berlin	13
	Detlef Irrgang	Energie Cottbus
	Rainer Wiedemann	FSV Lok Altmark Stendal

West/South-West

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	SG Wattenscheid 09 (C, P)	34	23	8	3	78	35	+43	77	Promotion to 2. Bundesliga
2	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	34	19	8	7	62	22	+40	65
3	1. FC Saarbrücken	34	17	10	7	64	38	+26	61
4	LR Ahlen	34	15	12	7	61	38	+23	57
5	Preußen Münster	34	15	12	7	52	32	+20	57
6	Wuppertaler SV	34	13	12	9	46	40	+6	51
7	SC Verl	34	14	7	13	61	52	+9	49
8	FC 08 Homburg	34	12	9	13	47	47	0	45
9	Eintracht Trier	34	11	10	13	41	45	−4	43
10	TuS Paderborn-Neuhaus	34	11	10	13	40	46	−6	43
11	Alemannia Aachen	34	11	9	14	40	48	−8	42
12	FC Germania Teveren	34	9	14	11	34	45	−11	41
13	SpVgg Erkenschwick	34	10	10	14	46	55	−9	40
14	FSV Salmrohr	34	10	9	15	39	54	−15	39
15	FC Remscheid	34	8	13	13	30	42	−12	37
16	SC Hauenstein (R)	34	8	12	14	46	62	−16	36	Relegation to Oberliga
17	1. FC Bocholt (R)	34	6	7	21	24	66	−42	25
18	SV Elversberg (R)	34	4	8	22	34	78	−44	20

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Top scorers

#	Player	Club	Goals
1.	René Deffke	LR Ahlen	24
	Marcus Feinbier	Alemannia Aachen / SG Wattenscheid 09
3.	Branko Zibert	1. FC Saarbrücken	23
4.	Achim Weber	Wuppertaler SV / Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	18
5.	Andreas Lässig	SC Hauenstein	14
	Jürgen Serr	Preußen Münster
7.	Brent Goulet	Wuppertaler SV	13
	Ermin Melunović	Eintracht Trier
9.	Markus Zuraski	SC Verl	12
10.	Sergio Allievi	SG Wattenscheid 09	11
	Marek Czakon	Eintracht Trier
	Thomas Pröpper	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen
	Astrit Ramadani	FSV Salmrohr
	Ulf Raschke	SC Verl

South

Final table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	1. FC Nürnberg (C, P)	34	25	5	4	75	26	+49	80	Promotion to 2. Bundesliga
2	SpVgg Greuther Fürth (P)	34	23	7	4	76	28	+48	76
3	SSV Reutlingen	34	19	7	8	67	33	+34	64
4	Borussia Fulda	34	16	7	11	58	37	+21	55
5	Wacker Burghausen	34	16	7	11	50	37	+13	55
6	SSV Ulm 1846	34	16	6	12	71	50	+21	54
7	VfR Mannheim	34	16	6	12	66	54	+12	54
8	Bayern Munich II	34	12	10	12	49	52	−3	46
9	SC Neukirchen 1899	34	12	8	14	44	59	−15	44
10	SC Weismain	34	10	10	14	53	64	−11	40
11	FC Augsburg	34	9	11	14	46	50	−4	38
12	KSV Hessen Kassel	34	10	7	17	43	65	−22	37
13	SV Darmstadt 98	34	9	9	16	49	61	−12	36
14	Karlsruher SC II	34	9	9	16	38	57	−19	36
15	TSF Ditzingen	34	10	6	18	53	74	−21	36
16	SpVgg 07 Ludwigsburg (R)	34	9	7	18	40	66	−26	34	Relegation to Oberliga
17	SG Quelle Fürth (R)	34	8	9	17	38	68	−30	33
18	SG Egelsbach (R)	34	7	9	18	44	79	−35	30

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Top scorers

#	Player	Club	Goals
1.	Frank Türr	SpVgg Greuther Fürth	25
2.	Olivier Djappa	Borussia Fulda	24
	Michael Mayer	SSV Reutlingen
4.	Carsten Lakies	Bayern Munich (A)	22
	Dragan Trkulja	SSV Ulm 1846
6.	Sascha Licht	SC Weismain	20
	Heiko Liebers	SC Neukirchen
8.	Markus Kurth	1. FC Nürnberg	16
9.	Marco Flading	Borussia Fulda	14
10.	Marcus Volke	SV Darmstadt 98	13

Promotion playoff

The last promotion place was contested between the champions of the North and North-East regions.^[1]

First leg

29 May 1997

20:20

Hannover 96	0 – 0	Energie Cottbus

Niedersachsenstadion (Hannover)

Attendance: 54,600

Referee: Hans-Jürgen Weber

Second leg

5 June 1997

20:20

Energie Cottbus	3 – 1	Hannover 96
Hoßmang 38' Irrgang 72', 86'		Ernst 32'

Stadion der Freundschaft (Cottbus)

Attendance: 22,000

Referee: Georg Dardenne

Energie Cottbus won 3–1 on aggregate and so were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga.