2. Bundesliga Nord (1974–1981)

2. Bundesliga Nord
Founded	1974
Folded	1981 (7 seasons)
Replaced by	2. Bundesliga
Country	West Germany
State	West Berlin; Lower Saxony; Schleswig-Holstein; Bremen; Hamburg; North Rhine-Westphalia;
Level on pyramid	Level 2
Promotion to	Bundesliga
Relegation to	Oberliga Berlin; Oberliga Nord; Oberliga Nordrhein; Oberliga Westfalen;
Last champions	SV Werder Bremen ; (1980–81)

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 single one 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:

to Oberliga Nordrhein: Viktoria Köln, 1. FC Bocholt, Rot-Weiss Oberhausen
to Oberliga Westfalen: SC 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

The winners and runners-up of the league were:^[1]

Season	Club	Runners-up
1974–75	Hannover 96	Bayer Uerdingen
1975–76	Tennis Borussia Berlin	Borussia Dortmund
1976–77	FC St. Pauli	Arminia Bielefeld
1977–78	Arminia Bielefeld	Rot-Weiss Essen
1978–79	Bayer 04 Leverkusen	Bayer Uerdingen
1979–80	Arminia Bielefeld	Rot-Weiss Essen
1980–81	SV Werder Bremen	Eintracht Braunschweig

Promoted teams in bold.

Play-offs for Bundesliga promotion

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:

Season	South	North	Results
1975	FK Pirmasens	Bayer Uerdingen	4–4 / 0–6
1976	1. FC Nuremberg	Borussia Dortmund	0–1 / 2–3
1977	TSV 1860 München	Arminia Bielefeld	4–0 / 0–4 / 2–0
1978	1. FC Nuremberg	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

Bold denotes promotion-winner.

Placings in the 2. Bundesliga Nord 1974–1981

The league placings from 1974 to 1981:^[2]

Club	1975	1976	1977	1978	1979	1980	1981
Borussia Dortmund	6	2	B	B	B	B	B
Bayer 04 Leverkusen		15	10	8	1	B	B
Bayer Uerdingen	2	B	4	7	2	B	B
Arminia Bielefeld	4	9	2	1	B	1	B
SV Werder Bremen	B	B	B	B	B	B	1
Eintracht Braunschweig	B	B	B	B	B	B	2
Hertha BSC	B	B	B	B	B	B	3
Hannover 96	1	B	5	5	15	3	4
Alemannia Aachen	15	12	7	14	7	7	5
VfL Osnabrück	8	6	9	16	18	8	6
Union Solingen		13	19	9	9	9	7
Rot-Weiss Essen	B	B	B	2	8	2	8
SC Fortuna Köln	5	4	12	4	4	6	9
SG Wattenscheid 09	7	8	15	6	10	5	10
Viktoria Köln					16	4	11
1. FC Bocholt				18			12
SC Preußen Münster	9	3	6	3	3	10	13
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	18					15	14
VfB Oldenburg							15
SC Herford			14	17		17	16
Tennis Borussia Berlin	B	1	B	10	11	13	17
SC Göttingen 05	10	11	17				18
Holstein Kiel					14	14	19
Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid				13	19	16	20
SpVgg Erkenschwick	16	18					21
OSV Hannover						12	22
DSC Wanne-Eickel					13	11
OSC Bremerhaven				19		18
Arminia Hannover			13	15	12	19
Wuppertaler SV	B	5	3	11	17	20
FC St. Pauli	3	14	1	B	6
Westfalia Herne		10	11	12	5
Wacker 04 Berlin	13	16	18		20
Schwarz-Weiß Essen	12	7	8	20
Bonner SC			16
VfL Wolfsburg	19		20
1. FC Mülheim	11	17
DJK Gütersloh	14	19
Spandauer SV		20
Olympia Wilhelmshaven	17
HSV Barmbeck-Uhlenhorst	20

Source:"2nd Bundesliga Nord". Das deutsche Fussball-Archiv. Archived from the original on 5 January 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2008.

Key

Symbol	Key
B	Bundesliga
Place	League
Blank	Played at a league level below this league

Notes

Westfalia Herne withdrew from the league in 1979 for financial reasons.
FC St. Pauli was refused a licence in 1979 and relegated.
DSC Wanne-Eicke' withdrew from the league in 1980 for financial reasons.

References

^ "Kicker Almanach" The Football Yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the Kicker Sports Magazine
^ Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables

Sources

Deutschlands Fußball in Zahlen, (in German) An annual publication with tables and results from the Bundesliga to Verbandsliga/Landesliga, publisher: DSFS
kicker Almanach, (in German) The yearbook on German football from Bundesliga to Oberliga, since 1937, published by the kicker Sports Magazine
Die Deutsche Liga-Chronik 1945–2005 (in German) History of German football from 1945 to 2005 in tables, publisher: DSFS, published: 2006

External links

Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv
The 2nd Bundesliga Nord at Weltfussball.de (with round-by-round results and tables)

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

[2] Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv (in German) Historical German domestic league tables

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