West Germany. This championship lost
quite a lot of its edge – there were more teams in decline and
there were those which had short lived prominence, contrary to
expectation. More or less, the West German football became one-team
show. Nothing like the glorious 1970s. Top players were going to
Italy and no big international talent was coming.
Second Division. 20 teams, the last 4
relegated, the top 2 directly promoted and the 3rd going
to promotion/relegation play-off against the 16th in the
Bundesliga. One outsider this season, 4 teams competing for
promotion.
SSV Ulm 1846 was the outsider – last
with 22 points, winning only 5 games.
Kickers Offenbach - 19
th
with 32 points. Unclear why they were placed 19
th, since
they finished with more points than the 18
th.
VfR 1910 Burstadt - 18
th
with 31 points. Newly promoted, they were relegated immediately.
FC St. Pauli - 17
th with 33
points. Like Burstadt, just promoted and going back to third level
right away.
FC 08 Homburg – lucky 16
th
with 34 points. Also just promoted and barely avoiding relegation.
Darmstadt 98 - 15
th with 35
points. Another lucky escape.
Hertha BSC - 14
th with 35
points. Their misery continued – just lucky to avoid relegation.
MSV Duisburg - 13
th with 35
points. Like Hertha, fighting for dear life and grateful for escaping
the Regional leagues.
Rot-Weiss Oberhausen - 12
th
with 35 points. One more team struggling to stay in the league.
Perhaps even their fans forgot that Rot-Weiss played top league
football once upon a time.
Fortuna Koln - 11
th with 36
points. A bit weaker than usual, but second division was truly their
environment, so they were not seen as declining.
SG Wattenscheid 09 - 10
th
with 36 points. Like Fortuna, a bit weaker than usual, but no big
deal.
Stuttgarter Kickers - 9
th
with 37 points. One more typical second division team, performing
accordingly: neither too strong, nor too weak.
SC Freiburg - 8
th with 38
points.
Blau-Weiss 90 Berlin – the best of
the newly promoted teams: 7
th with 39 points. However, it
did look like a season fueled by enthusiasm and unlikely to be
repeated.
SG Union Solingen - 6
th with
41 points. Strong season, but hardly suggesting anything more than
just occasional good year.
Alemannia Aachen - 5
th with
43 points. Their usual – quite remote from promotional ambitions.
That was the bulk of the league,
separated clearly from the top 4 teams. They fought for promotion and
one team had to be out. Fierce race – 1 point was the whole
difference, the unlucky 4th losing on goal-difference.
KSV Hessen Kassel – what a
misfortune: 4
th with 49 points. Weaker goal-difference
worked against them and that was only too bad, for Hessen had modest
existence, practically never aiming at promotional spot and quite
unlikely to repeat their strong season.
FC Saarbrucken – lucky to finish
3
rd. 49 points and better goal-difference than Hessen
gave them a chance for promotion. They did not miss their chance,
beating Arminia (Bielefeld) in the play-off and climbing up for one
more try of top flight football. The team was not very promising, so
it was going to be a very hard task, but at least this season ended
on high note. Perhaps this was the highest achievement of the former
Bulgarian star Abadjiev, who was one of their coaches.
Hannover 96 clinched direct promotion,
ending with 50 points. Lost first place on goal-difference, but
promotion mattered most. Well, up and down, up and down – that was
there history. Now it was up. Staying in First Division was another
matter.
1.FC Nurnberg – 50 points and better
goal-difference made them champions of Second Division. Lucky to win
the 4-team battle, but they were not promising squad either. 23 wins,
4 ties, 11 losses, 71-45 goal-difference – not a very impressive
record for a champion. Like Hannover 96, they were doomed to
meandering between 1
st and 2
nd divisions. It
was great to go up again, but... neither of the three promoted teams
looked like it will make some impact in the highest league.
Hannover 96 clinched direct promotion, ending with 50 points. Lost first place on goal-difference, but promotion mattered most. Well, up and down, up and down – that was there history. Now it was up. Staying in First Division was another matter.
