Life at the bottom of Bundesliga was less exciting. Karlsruher SC lost tough battle against 4 other teams – Fortuna Dusseldorf, 1.FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FC Saarbrucken, and VfL Bochum – and ended 16th, in the relegation zone.

It was no great surprise – newcomers rarely survive for long. Karlsureh SC fought as much as they were able to, but no luck. Under them finished teams which were doomed for the most of the season.

Tennis Borussia (West Berlin) failed their second attempt to establish themselves among the best German clubs. Nothing really to be said about them. I like small clubs and usually support them, but reality has nothing to do with my preferences: TeBe had little money and therefore unable to build surviving team.

Rot-Weiss (Essen) finished last – and no surprise either.

Rot-Weiss normally existed in the lower half of the table and playing with fire can be done only so long. They were usual candidates for relegation and fulfilled the expectations this season. Horst Hrubesch sunk down, but still he was nobody. Frank Mill, who also got some fame in the 1980s, started his career by going to Second Division.

The bottom three were to be replaced in the next season by the winners of the two Second Bundesliga groups. The iconic FC Sankt Pauli (Hamburg) topped Nord group. Looked like Tennis Borussia was not going to be missed... In the South VfB Stuttgart finished first and returned to top flight, hopefully with lessons learned. The play-off between the second placed clubs promoted TSV 1860 Munchen. Another familiar name escaping purgatory. As a whole, the newcomers appeared to be stronger teams than the relegated. Well, by name only.