Introduction of the 2. Bundesliga

The Introduction of the 2. Bundesliga was the step of establishing a professional second tier association football league in Germany in 1974. The new league, the 2. Bundesliga, played its first season in 1974–75 and continues to be the second-highest league in the country. Its introduction reduced the number of second divisions in Germany from five to two and the number of teams at this level from 83 to 40. It eliminated the necessity of having a promotion round at the end of the season to determine the two teams promoted to the Bundesliga.

Germany's second tier of football, the Regionalliga, had been established in 1963 with the introduction of the Bundesliga. The Regionalliga was played in five regional divisions, North, West, South, South-West and Berlin. This arrangement however meant that, to determine the two teams that would be promoted to the Bundesliga at the end of each season, a promotion play-off had to be held after the end of the regular league season. These play-offs were originally made up of the five Regionalliga champions and runners-up, except for Berlin, where only the champions qualified from. Later, the Berlin runners-up was admitted, too. Clubs relegated from the Bundesliga experienced a drop from a nationwide professional league to semi-professional and financially unattractive regional leagues.

The decision to establish a 2. Bundesliga with two regional divisions made up of 20 teams each, North and South, was made at the annual convention of the German Football Association, the DFB, at Frankfurt on 30 June 1973. For the new northern division, eleven clubs from the west, seven clubs from the north and two clubs from Berlin were meant to qualify however, only one club from Berlin took up the option, leaving another spot for the west. For the new southern division, seven clubs from the south-west and 13 clubs from the south qualified. The two teams relegated from the Bundesliga, Hannover 96 and SC Fortuna Köln, were deducted from the quota of the region they belonged to.

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