 The "Niedersachsen-Liga" however maintained their status as tier five leagues and accordingly was renamed Oberliga Niedersachsen.The 2009–10 season functioned as a qualifying stage for the new single-division "Niedersachsenliga", which kick-off in 2010.While the Lower Saxony champion was promoted to the Regionalliga, as in the previous season, the other fifteen teams placed one to eight in the two leagues were directly qualify for the new league.