| Competition: | Regionalliga |
| Season: | 1996–97 |
| Matches: | 1224 |
| Total Goals: | 3555 |
| League Topscorer: | Hakan Cengiz (VfL Herzlake) - 28 |
| Prevseason: | 1995–96 |
| Nextseason: | 1997–98 |
The 1996–97 Regionalliga was the third season of the Regionalliga as the third tier of German football. The league was organised in four regional divisions, Nord, Nordost, West-Südwest and Süd.
FC Energie Cottbus, SG Wattenscheid 09, 1. FC Nürnberg and SpVgg Greuther Fürth were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga.
| Player | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  Hakan Cengiz | VfL Herzlake | 28 |
| 2. | Vladan Milovanović | Hannover 96 | 27 |
| 3. | Kreso Kovacec | Hannover 96 | 25 |
| 4. | Miloš Kolaković | Eintracht Braunschweig | 19 |
| 5. | Markus Burmeister | 1. SC Norderstedt | 14 |
| 6. | Daniel Stendel | Hamburger SV (A) | 16 |
| 7. | Arie van Lent | Werder Bremen (A) | 15 |
| 8. | Stephan Prause | Kickers Emden | 14 |
| 9. | Uwe Harttgen | Werder Bremen (A) | 13 |
| Christian Jablonski | Atlas Delmenhorst | ||
 Leo Marić | Eintracht Braunschweig | ||
| Tibor Nadj | Hamburger SV (A) | ||
| Player | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Marco Weißhaupt | Rot-Weiß Erfurt | 21 |
| 2. | Ilija Aračić | Chemnitzer FC | 18 |
| Daniel Bärwolf | Rot-Weiß Erfurt | ||
| 4. | Mike Sadlo | Erzgebirge Aue | 17 |
| 5. |  Oleg Golowan | FC Sachsen Leipzig | 14 |
| 6. | Toralf Konetzke | Energie Cottbus | 15 |
| 7. | Ronny Hebestreit | Rot-Weiß Erfurt | 14 |
| 8. | Thomas Adler | Tennis Borussia Berlin | 13 |
| Detlef Irrgang | Energie Cottbus | ||
| Rainer Wiedemann | FSV Lok Altmark Stendal |
| Player | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | René Deffke | LR Ahlen | 24 |
| Marcus Feinbier | Alemannia Aachen / SG Wattenscheid 09 | ||
| 3. | Branko Zibert | 1. FC Saarbrücken | 23 |
| 4. | Achim Weber | Wuppertaler SV / Rot-Weiß Oberhausen | 18 |
| 5. | Andreas Lässig | SC Hauenstein | 14 |
| Jürgen Serr | Preußen Münster | ||
| 7. |  Brent Goulet | Wuppertaler SV | 13 |
| Ermin Melunović | Eintracht Trier | ||
| 9. |  Markus Zuraski | SC Verl | 12 |
| 10. | Sergio Allievi | SG Wattenscheid 09 | 11 |
| Marek Czakon | Eintracht Trier | ||
| Thomas Pröpper | Rot-Weiß Oberhausen | ||
 Astrit Ramadani | FSV Salmrohr | ||
| Ulf Raschke | SC Verl |
| Player | Club | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Frank Türr | SpVgg Greuther Fürth | 25 | |
| 2. |  Olivier Djappa | Borussia Fulda | 24 | |
| Michael Mayer | SSV Reutlingen | |||
| 4. | Carsten Lakies | Bayern Munich (A) | 22 | |
| Dragan Trkulja | SSV Ulm 1846 | |||
| 6. | Sascha Licht | SC Weismain | 20 | |
| Heiko Liebers | SC Neukirchen | |||
| 8. | Markus Kurth | 1. FC Nürnberg | 16 | |
| 9. | Marco Flading | Borussia Fulda | 14 | |
| 10. | Marcus Volke | SV Darmstadt 98 | 13 |
The last promotion place was contested between the champions of the North and North-East regions.[1]
Energie Cottbus won 3–1 on aggregate and so were promoted to the 2. Bundesliga.