With the inception of the latter in 1903, the former became qualifying tournaments for it but these regional championships still held a high value for the local clubs.

[3] It originally was named Verband Süddeutscher Fußball-Vereine (English: Association of Southern German football clubs).

One of the leading figures and driving force in the Southern German football was Walther Bensemann, founder of the kicker sportmagazin, a position he retained until the Nazis rise to power.

[4] The other driving force behind football in the south of Germany was Friedrich Wilhelm Nohe, chairman of the Karlsruher FV.

[7] In its early years, competition was very localised and patchy, with a handful of clubs dominating play.

From 1907, football became more organised with Southern Germany being split in four local districts (German: Kreis), from 1910 each had their own top-league: This step, away from localised competition and towards a more centralised system of leagues with strong competition was a vital factor in the rise of the Southern German clubs to dominance in Germany in the 1920s.

[8] After the end of the First World War, the region of Alsace-Lorraine once more became part of France and its clubs did not compete in the SFV-championship any more.

For the 1926 edition, the modus remained unchanged apart from the Southern German cup winner also entering the finals tournament.

However, each Bezirksliga in turn was sub-divided into two regional groups: From the 1928 season, the best team from each of the eight divisions qualified for southern tournament, still played in a home-and-away modus.

The league winners and runners-up now qualified both for the finals tournament, which was played in two groups of eight teams, again regionally sub-divided.

The two division winners then played out the Southern championship, with both teams still being qualified for the German finals.

The 1932 and 1933 season only differed as far as the regional make up being changed in 1933, away from the system were Württemberg-Baden-Bayern played in one group and Main-Hessen-Rhein-Saar in the other, as it traditionally had been.

Shortly after the end of the Second World War, the Oberliga Süd was established and the South of Germany had a united highest football league for the first time.

The area west of the river Rhine however remained separate from the SFV and formed the Oberliga Südwest.

Bundesliga Süd, the region which was once covered by the Southern German football championship briefly had a united league again, even so it was only on the second tier.

In 1994, the Regionalliga Süd was re-established, now as a tier-three league, covering the three states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse.

At times, this cup winner also gained entry to the Southern German championship.