2nd Bundesliga Nord (1974-81)

The 2nd Bundesliga Nord was the second-highest level of the German football league system in the north of Germany from 1974 until the formation of the single-division 2nd Bundesliga in 1981. It covered the northern states of Nordrhein-Westfalen,Niedersachsen, Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein and the city of West-Berlin.

Overview

The league was established in 1974 to reduce the number of second divisions in Germany from five to two and thereby allow direct promotion to the league winners.Along with the foundation of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord, formed from clubs of the three former Regionalligas of Nord, Berlin and West, went the foundation of the 2nd Bundesliga Süd, which was created from clubs of the other two Regionalligas, Süd and Südwest.

The league was created from twelve clubs from the West, seven from the North and one from Berlin, reflecting the playing strength of the old Regionalligas.

The winner of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord was directly promoted to the Bundesliga, the runners-up played a home-and-away series versus the southern runners-up for the third promotion spot.

The bottom four teams were relegated to the Amateurligas, after 1978 to the new Oberligas. In 1979 only three teams were relegated. The winners of the Amateurligas/Oberligas had to determind the promoted teams by the way of a promotion play-off.

The league operated with 20 teams in its first six seasons, expanding to 22 in its last in 1981.

Until 1978, below the 2nd Bundesliga Nord ranked the following Verbandsligas and Oberligas:

*Oberliga Nord
*Oberliga Berlin
*Verbandsliga Mittelrhein
*Verbandsliga Niederrhein
*Verbandsliga Westfalen 1
*Verbandsliga Westfalen 2

In 1978 these leagues were reduced to four:

*Oberliga Nord
*Oberliga Berlin
*Oberliga Nordrhein
*Oberliga Westfalen

In 1981, the two 2nd Bundesligas merged into one, country-wide division. Nine clubs from the south and eight from the north plus the three relegated teams from the Bundesliga were admitted into the new league, the 2nd Bundesliga.

The SG Wattenscheid 09, VfL Osnabrück, Alemannia Aachen, Fortuna Köln and Preußen Münster all played every of the seven seasons of the league.

Disbanding of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord

The league was dissolved in 1981. Eight clubs of the league went to the new 2nd Bundesliga while the champion and runners-up was promoted to Bundesliga. The twelve remaining clubs were relegated to the Amateurligas.

The teams admitted to the 2nd Bundesliga were:

*Hertha BSC Berlin
*Hannover 96
*Alemannia Aachen
*VfL Osnabrück
*Union Solingen
*Rot-Weiss Essen
*Fortuna Köln
*SG Wattenscheid 09

Relegated to the Oberligas were:

*to Oberliga Nordrhein: Viktoria Köln, 1. FC Bocholt, Rot-Weiss Oberhausen
*to Oberliga Westfalen: Preußen Münster, SC Herford, Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid, SpVgg Erkenschwick
*to Oberliga Nord: VfB Oldenburg, SC Göttingen 05, Holstein Kiel, OSV Hannover
*to Oberliga Berlin: Tennis Borussia Berlin

Winners and runners-up of the 2nd Bundesliga Nord ["Kicker Almanach" The Football Yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine]

1975 Hannover 96 Bayer Uerdingen 1976 Tennis Borussia Berlin Borussia Dortmund 1977 FC St. Pauli Arminia Bielefeld 1978 Arminia Bielefeld Rot-Weiss Essen 1979 Bayer Leverkusen Bayer Uerdingen 1980 Arminia Bielefeld Rot-Weiss Essen 1981 Werder Bremen Eintracht Braunschweig

Bold denotes team went on to gain promotion to the Bundesliga.

Play-off for Bundesliga promotion

1975 FK Pirmasens - Bayer Uerdingen 4-4 / 0-6 1976 1. FC Nürnberg - Borussia Dortmund 0-1 / 2-3 1977 TSV 1860 München - Arminia Bielefeld 4-0 / 0-4 / 2-0 1978 1. FC Nürnberg - RW Essen 1-0 / 2-2 1979 SpVgg Bayreuth - Bayer Uerdingen 1-1 / 1-2 1980 Karlsruher SC - RW Essen 5-1 / 1-3 1981 Kickers Offenbach - Eintracht Braunschweig 1-0 / 0-2

Placings in the 2nd Bundesliga Nord 1974 to 1981

Source:Cite web
url = http://www.f-archiv.de/
title = 2nd Bundesliga Nord
accessdate = 2008-01-08
publisher = Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv

*♦ denotes club played in the Bundesliga.
*The "Wetsfalia Herne" withdrew from the league in 1979 for financial reasons.
*The "FC St. Pauli" was refused a licence in 1979 and relegated.
*The "DSC Wanne-Eickel" withdrew from the league in 1980 for financial reasons.

ee also

*Second Fußball-Bundesliga 1974-75
*Second Fußball-Bundesliga 1975-76
*Second Fußball-Bundesliga 1976-77
*Second Fußball-Bundesliga 1977-78
*Second Fußball-Bundesliga 1978-79
*Second Fußball-Bundesliga 1979-80
*Second Fußball-Bundesliga 1980-81

External links

* [http://www.f-archiv.de/ Das deutsche Fussball Archiv ]
* [http://www.weltfussball.de/spielplan.php?Thema=4&Liga=2&s_id=59&x=17&y=3 The 2nd Bundesliga Nord at Weltfussball.de (with round-by-round results and tables)]

References

"Kicker Almanach" The Football Yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine