2. Bundesliga Nord (1974–81)


The 2. Bundesliga Nord was the second-highest level of the West German football league system in the north of West Germany from its introduction in 1974 until the formation of the single-division 2. Bundesliga in 1981. It covered the northern states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, 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 2. Bundesliga Nord, formed from clubs of the three former Regionalligas of Nord, Berlin and West, went the foundation of the 2. 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 2. 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 determine 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 2. Bundesliga Nord ranked the following Verbandsligas and Oberligas:
In 1978 these leagues were reduced to four:
In 1981, the two 2. 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 2. Bundesliga.
SG Wattenscheid 09, VfL Osnabrück, Alemannia Aachen, SC Fortuna Köln and SC Preußen Münster all played every of the seven seasons of the league.

Disbanding of the 2. Bundesliga Nord

The league was dissolved in 1981. Eight clubs of the league went to the new 2. Bundesliga while the champion and runners-up were promoted to the Bundesliga. The twelve remaining clubs were relegated to the Amateurligas.
The teams admitted to the 2. Bundesliga were:
Relegated to the Oberligas were:
The winners and runners-up of the league were:
SeasonClubRunners-up
1974–75Hannover 96Bayer Uerdingen
1975–76Tennis Borussia BerlinBorussia Dortmund
1976–77FC St. PauliArminia Bielefeld
1977–78Arminia BielefeldRot-Weiss Essen
1978–79Bayer 04 LeverkusenBayer Uerdingen
1979–80Arminia BielefeldRot-Weiss Essen
1980–81SV Werder BremenEintracht Braunschweig

The third promotion spot to the Bundesliga was decided through a play-off round of the runners-up of the two 2nd Bundesligas. Here are the results of this round:
SeasonSouthNorthResults
1975FK PirmasensBayer Uerdingen4–4 / 0–6
19761. FC NurembergBorussia Dortmund0–1 / 2–3
1977TSV 1860 MünchenArminia Bielefeld4–0 / 0–4 / 2–0
19781. FC NurembergRW Essen1–0 / 2–2
1979SpVgg BayreuthBayer Uerdingen1–1 / 1–2
1980Karlsruher SCRW Essen5–1 / 1–3
1981Kickers OffenbachEintracht Braunschweig1–0 / 0–2

The league placings from 1974 to 1981:
Club1975197619771978197919801981
Borussia Dortmund62BBBBB
Bayer 04 Leverkusen151081BB
Bayer Uerdingen2B472BB
Arminia Bielefeld4921B1B
SV Werder BremenBBBBBB1
Eintracht BraunschweigBBBBBB2
Hertha BSCBBBBBB3
Hannover 961B551534
Alemannia Aachen1512714775
VfL Osnabrück869161886
Union Solingen13199997
Rot-Weiss EssenBBB2828
SC Fortuna Köln54124469
SG Wattenscheid 097815610510
Viktoria Köln16411
1. FC Bocholt1812
SC Preußen Münster936331013
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen181514
VfB Oldenburg15
SC Herford14171716
Tennis Borussia BerlinB1B10111317
SC Göttingen 0510111718
Holstein Kiel141419
Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid13191620
SpVgg Erkenschwick161821
OSV Hannover1222
DSC Wanne-Eickel1311
OSC Bremerhaven1918
Arminia Hannover13151219
Wuppertaler SVB53111720
FC St. Pauli3141B6
Westfalia Herne1011125
Wacker 04 Berlin13161820
Schwarz-Weiß Essen127820
Bonner SC16
VfL Wolfsburg1920
1. FC Mülheim1117
DJK Gütersloh1419
Spandauer SV20
Olympia Wilhelmshaven17
HSV Barmbeck-Uhlenhorst20

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