Bavarian ice hockey leagues The Bavarian ice hockey leagues are part of the German ice hockey league system and form the tiers four to six of the league system in the state of Bavaria . The leagues are operated by the " Bayrischer Eissport Verband " , the Bavarian association for ice sports . Overview . The league system in Bavaria consists of three separate tiers , these being the " Bayernliga " ( IV ) ( English : " Bavarian League " ) , " Landesliga " ( V ) ( English : " State League " ) and " Bezirksliga " ( VI ) ( English : " County League " ) . The overall system has remained unchanged for a lengthy period of seasons . The number of clubs , especially in the lowest tier , the " Bezirksliga " , can fluctuate due to teams joining and other teams leaving the league . This is mostly due to lack of players , or , the other extreme , an over supply of players and the need to form a reserves team . Occasionally , clubs fold , reform or re - enter the league system . In the current " Bayernliga " season , the " EC 2000 Ulm / Neu - Ulm " folded in December 2007 , being unable to pay their players . The " Bayernliga " champion earns the right to gain promotion to the " Oberliga " . At the end of the 2006 - 07 season , the runner - up was also promoted , which is an exception . Until the end of the 1999 - 2000 season , the " Bayernliga " was only the fifth tier of the league system . The league between " Oberliga " and " Bayernliga " , the " Regionalliga " , was disbanded after this season and the majority of its clubs integrated into the " Oberliga " . The " Bavarian Eissport Verband " ( BEV ) is the largest regional ice hockey association in Germany with 14 . 000 registered players in over 90 clubs . Apart from the 79 senior teams playing in its league system for the 2007 - 08 season , there is also eight women ' s teams and 284 junior teams . For this reason , the " Bayernliga " is the only state - wide league whose champion directly qualifies for the " Oberliga " , all other leagues , the " Regionalligas " ( English : " Regional Leagues " ) cover larger areas or have to go through a promotion play - off round . Above the " BEV " there is currently four Bavarian teams in the " DEL " ( " German Ice Hockey League " ) ( I ) , three in the " 2nd Bundesliga " ( II ) and ten in the " Oberliga " ( III ) . This means , 17 of 45 clubs in the first three divisions of German ice hockey currently come from Bavaria . Ice hockey in Bavaria . Bavaria , especially the southern , mountainous region of it , is the " cradle " of German ice hockey with many former German internationals coming from there . Historically , the German championship was dominated by clubs from Bavaria and Berlin . Nowadays however , Bavarian teams rarely win a championship . The situation is actually very similar to the Canadian teams in the NHL , who provide the majority of players but win a minority of titles . In 87 editions of the German championship until 2007 , Bavarian clubs have won 35 . Of the current " DEL " teams , none hold a German title to their name . In the " 2nd Bundesliga " , " Landshut " and " Riessersee " hold 12 titles between them and in the " Oberliga " , " Füssen " , " Tölz " and " Rosenheim " have earned 20 German championship between them . The " EV Füssen " is second only in numbers of titles to " Berliner Schlittschuhclub " , having won 16 German championships from 1949 to 1973 . One reason for the leading role , Bavarian ice hockey had , and still to some extend has is the number of ice hockey stadiums in the state . Almost 40 percent of all stadiums in Germany are in Bavaria and twice as many as in the second ranked state Nordrhein - Westfalen : Leagues & modus . The nine senior leagues split over three tiers , operating on the following modus : Bayernliga . For the 2007 - 08 season , the " Bayernliga " operated in one single division of 16 clubs . The season went from October 2007 to March 2008 . Each team in the league played each other twice , home and away . at the end of the regular season , the top eight teams entered a play - off round . In a best - of - three modus , the winner of the " Bayernliga " was determined . The bottom eight teams also played a best - of - three play - down round to determined the two teams relegated to the " Landesligas " . Until the end of the 1999 - 2000 season , the league operated on a fourteen club home - and - away season with no play - offs . From 2000 , the strength of the league was increased to sixteen clubs in two regional groups of eight . After a first round , the top four of each group played another group stage , the championship group . The bottom four from each group did the same in a relegation group . From the 2002 - 03 season , play - offs were introduced after the championship round . The year after , the league moved to its current modus of a sixteen team home - and - away season with play - offs at the end . Landesliga . Each of the four " Landesligas " played a regular season of home - and - away matches . The two first placed teams of each league then entered a " championship " round of eight teams . Again played in home - and - away modus , the top two teams of this round gain promotion to the " Bayernliga " . Should one or more teams from the " Bayernliga " gain entry to the " Oberliga " with a lesser number then that being relegated from the " Oberliga " to the " Bayernliga " , additional teams may be promoted from the " Landesliga " . The other six teams in each of the four " Landesligas " played out another home - and - away round with the last placed team from each league being relegated to the corresponding " Bezirksliga " . This modus for the 2007 - 08 season actually differs from the previous years , when after the first round of home - and - away games , the " Landesligas " were split into a top - four and a bottom - four group , with the later determinding the relegated team and the former playing for the group champion who would enter a four - team play - off for the " Landesliga " title and " Bayernliga " promotion . Bezirksliga . In the " Bezirksliga " , the lowest level of play , each league again plays a home - and - away season . The winner of each " ' Bezirksliga " goes to the " Bezirksliga championship " where the four teams determined the champion of this level . Each of the four regional champions is also promoted to the corresponding " Landesliga " . For all other clubs in the " Bezirksliga " the season ends after the main round . there is no relegation as there is no league below the " Bezirksliga " . Bayernliga , Landesliga and Bezirksliga champions . On top of the division champions , each tier also plays out its level champions , the " Bayernliga Meister " , " Landesliga Meister " and " Bezirksliga Meister " . Divisionial champions . The " Landsliga " and " Bezirksliga " are subdivided in four divisions each with the following divisional champions : Bavarian clubs in the German league system . For the 2010 - 11 season , the following clubs from Bavaria played in the top three German leagues : In the DEL : In the 2nd Bundesliga : In the Oberliga :