season. The three clubs from this region that were still interested in playing at the Oberliga level joined the southern division. The Oberliga South, largely made up of Bavarian clubs, continued to operate successfully in the coming season, usually including a couple of northern clubs, while the Oberliga North was not reestablished until 2007. The ESBG, now operating the 2nd Bundesliga and Oberliga for the DEB, decided to reform an Oberliga North in 2007. The two separate divisions of the league were however not completely independent of each other, like in the past. Teams from the same league would meet each other four times now, while clubs from different divisions would only meet twice in the regular season. At the end of this, a combined play-off round would determine the Oberliga champion. In 2007–08, the Oberliga was split into northern and southern groups for the first time since 2001. The northern group contains nine, and the southern ten clubs. The four top teams from each group enter a best-of-five play-off round to determine the Oberliga champion and the two teams promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga. The bottom four in each group enter a play-down round to determine the relegated teams. In the 2008–09 season, the league played in a single-division format, before switching to four regional divisions with an Oberliga championship at the end from 2010 onwards. In the summer of 2010, the organisation of the Oberliga broke away from the ESBG and the format was changed: the Oberliga South was organised by the DEB beginning in 2010/11; the new Oberliga West was organised by the LEV Northrhein-Westfalen; the new Oberliga North was till 2012/13 organised by the LEV Niedersachsen - now also organised by the DEB; the new Oberliga East was organised by the LEV Berlin The top teams from the West, North, and East groups play a final round in their groups after the regular season The top teams from the final round qualify for the promotion playoffs The teams from the South group play after the normal round playoffs for the teams, which qualify them for the promotion playoffs Current teams Champions and premiers See also Deutsche Eishockey Liga, the DEL'' 2nd Bundesliga Bavarian ice hockey leagues References External links The Oberliga at Eishockey-Magazin The Oberliga at Hockeyweb.de Hockey Archives - International ice hockey website with tables and results (in French) Official website of the ESBG for