West Germany at the top of European football – exciting championship, almost at the entertaining level of the English league, high scores, money, organization, stadiums, stars, everything. Bundesliga had it all, not so at the second level, but it was going strong on its own right. 40 teams, divided into two leagues in the Second Bundesliga.
2 Bundesliga Nord. Few former members of Bundesliga, none a big name.
Perhaps Rot Weiss (Essen) was the best known club here, already fading into obscurity. 8th this season.
A few entirely unknown clubs, hardly noticed outside Germany and just happy to play professional football for awhile: DSC Wanne-Eickel (13th), Rot Weiss (Ludenscheid) (19th). Most of the league was made of smaller clubs with somewhat recognizable names, but clearly unable of anything bigger than second-tier football. Some eventually disappeared from sight – like Viktoria (Koln).
So far, Koln was a big football centre – 3 teams in the two professional leagues was more than almost any other German city. A local derby was – and is – a German rarity, but Koln had it at the time – Fortuna vs Viktoria. Did not last very long – Viktoria was already sinking down – 16th this season.
Most members of the league were similar in one thing – it was hard to imagine them in the top league.
Alemannia (Aachen) – a typical Second Bundesliga member. 7th this season. Many, many years later they climbed up, but in the 1970s looked like the Second Bundesliga was made for clubs like that – modest professional clubs. Which was even a trouble for Bundesliga Nord: some clubs had difficulties even playing there. Wacker 04 (West Berlin) finished last – nothing surprising, but the three teams just ahead of them were lucky – Westfalia (Herne) had a good season and finished 5th, but money was short… the club voluntarily returned their license for the following season and was relegated. A place bellow Westfalia finished St. Pauli (Hambourg). They tasted Bundesliga football short time ago and seemingly played well… but they also lacked money. The Federation did not grant them license for the next season. Thus, the 5th, the 6th, and the 20th in the final table were relegated to the regional leagues.
The Northern league was problematic since formation – poorer and consequently even the winners were not looked upon with any hope. Few clubs competed for the second place, but there was only one favourite. It was the year of the ‘Aspirins’ – a matter of stable money. Bayer (Uerdingen) finished 2nd with 53 points, 2 more than Preussen (Munster). But they did not challenge the other Bayer , which won the championship with 59 points.
A great success – Leverkusen won 24 matches, tied 11, and lost only 3. Supreme goal-difference too – 87:34. Going up to join the top division for the first time. Their ‘brothers’ from Uerdingen already played a bit of first division football and judging from this experience, perhaps nothing was expected from Leverkusen. But it was only the beginning of great success story – this ‘Aspirins’ did not taste second division football after their victory in 1978-79.