Of the Schleswig-Holstein-Liga teams only SV Eichede, Eutin 08 and TSB Flensburg applied for a Regionalliga licence for the 2016–17 season, with the Northern German Football Association deciding on 9 May 2016 to grant all applicants a licence.[5][6]
Promotion play-off were to be held at the end of the season to the Regionalliga Nord.[7] The runners-up of the Niedersachsenliga and the champions or, in Hamburg's case, the only team applying for a licence, of the Bremen-Liga, Oberliga Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein-Liga played each other for two more spot in the Regionalliga. In the promotion round each team met the other just once with the two highest-placed teams in the final table promoted: