DDR. The reformed Second Division championship kicked in this season – now it was made of two groups of 18 teams each. The winners were directly promoted to the top level and the last three – relegated to Third Division. The second teams of first division clubs were allowed to play here, but unable to move to the top league. They could be relegated down, though – and also promoted from third level to the second. Five such teams played in the new second division, but why they were included is a bit unclear – one can understand automatic inclusion of the leading clubs, but Rot-Weiss (Erfurt) was not among them and Carl Zeiss (Jena) was not strong at the moment. Lokomotive (Leipzig) and 1. FC Magdeburg on the other hand were not included. Anyhow, the new championship started and finished, without producing anything new: the usual bulk of clubs with scary industrial names played minor roles as they did before the championship was reformed. Former First Division members were the only candidates for promotion and, as it was for many years, the leaders were not challenged by anybody.
1. FC Union (Berlin) easily won Group A after 21 wins, 8 ties, and 5 losses. They scored 81 goals – the most in the whole Second Division, allowing 29 in their net. 50 points gave then a solid 5 point-lead at the end – they had no rival. Once again Union was going up.
BSG Energie (Cottbus), a possible candidate for promotion, finished 4th – a good 8 points behind Union. Top row from left: Horst Krautzig, Hans-Dieter Paulo, Detlef Irrgang, Andreas Wolf, Dietmar Drabow.
Third row: Ralf Lempke, Udo Stimpel, Maik Pohland, Lars Petzold, Jens Melzig, Reinhard Noack.
Second row: Hagen Wellschmidt, Roland Balck, Andreas Leuthäuser, Reimund Städler.
Front row: Karsten Dietrich, Ingolf Krause, Ralf Wilken.
Group B. A mirror image of Group A – one unchallenged leader and nothing else.
HFC Chemie (Halle), a possible candidate for promotion before the season, did nothing much and they were 2nd in the final table. Distant second, 5 points behind the winners.
BSG Sachsenring (Zwickau) dominated the championship, winning it with 54 points. 24 wins, 6 ties, 4 losses, 73-27 goal-difference and the best defensive record this season. Just like Union (Berlin), Sachsenring was simply returning to First Division.