The Ehrenliga Saarland was formed in 1947 in the state of Saarland. The league was originally a feeder league to the
Oberliga Südwest. Due to the special situation of Saarland, its clubs left the German football league system from 1948 to 1951 with the
1. FC Saarbrücken playing a year in the
French second division. Three seasons in this period were played under independent
Saarland Football Association control. From its return in 1951, now under the name of Amateurliga Saarland, until the establishment of the Oberliga Südwest in 1978, it was the third tier of the football league system. The league was established in 1947 with ten teams, the winner gaining promotion to the Oberliga Südwest. The founder members were: •
FC Homburg •
Sportfreunde Burbach •
FC Ensdorf •
SC Brebach •
Preußen Merchweiler •
FV Püttlingen •
SV Ludweiler •
ASC Dudweiler •
SV Bliekastel •
Hellas Marpingen •
Viktoria Hühnerfeld With the return to the German league system in 1951, two teams from the Amateurliga were admitted to the Oberliga Südwest, the 1. FC Saarbrücken and
Borussia Neunkirchen. The year after, three clubs were admitted to the new 2. Oberliga Südwest, the
Viktoria Hühnerfeld,
SC Altenkessel und
Sportfreunde Saarbrücken. The winner of the Amateurliga Saarland was not automatically promoted to its superior league but rather had to take part in a
promotion play-off. The champion would have to compete with the winners of the
Amateurliga Südwest and
Rheinland. With the introduction of the
Bundesliga in 1963 the Amateurliga was placed below the new
Regionalliga Südwest but still retained its third-tier status. It continued to do so after the introduction of the
2. Bundesliga Süd in 1974. == Disbanding of the Amateurliga Saarland ==