Promotion to the Bundesliga

Promotion to the Bundesliga
Founded
1963
Nation
Germany
Promotion To
Bundesliga
Promotion From
2. Bundesliga (1981–)
2nd Bundesliga South (1974–81)
2nd Bundesliga North (1974–81)
Regionalligas (1963–74)
Winners 2013–14
1. FC Köln
SC Paderborn 07

The Promotion to the Bundesliga (German: Aufstiegsrunde zur Bundesliga) was an end-of-season competition, held annually to determine the clubs that were promoted from the Regionalligas, later the 2nd Bundesligas to the Bundesliga. Originally, it was necessary because there were more second division champions then promotion spots available. From 1974 onwards, it involved only two clubs who determined the third possible promotion spot to the Bundesliga.

Leagues

1963–74

When the Bundesliga was formed in 1963, the German Football Association established five regional second divisions below it, the Regionalligas, these being:

• Regionalliga Süd
• Regionalliga Südwest
• Regionalliga West
• Regionalliga Berlin
• Regionalliga Nord

Because the boundaries of these five leagues went along historical lines, determined by the boundaries of the five German sub-federations, the playing strength of the leagues was not equal. To determine the two teams to be promoted to the Bundesliga each season, a promotion round was held. The number of teams from each Regionalliga qualified for this event was not equal, for the above-mentioned reason.

From 1963, the first two teams in each Regionalliga was qualified for the promotion round, except from Berlin, who would only send the champions. To reduce the number of clubs from nine to eight, a home-and-away decider was played between two of the runners-ups. The origin of the two teams in this altered annually. The eight teams would then play a home-and-away round in two groups of four with the winners qualified for the Bundesliga. Teams from the same Regionalliga would not play in the same group. This system was in place till 1966.

From 1967, the groups were expanded to five clubs and all five Regionalligas send their runners-up to the competition. Otherwise, the modus remained unchanged. This system remained in place until 1974, when the Regionalligas were disbanded.

1974–81

In 1974, the five Regionalligas were replaced by two 2nd Bundesligas, those being:

• 2nd Bundesliga South
• 2nd Bundesliga North

The two league champions would now be directly promoted to the Bundesliga while the two runners-up played a home-and-away round to determined the third promoted team. This system remained in place until the single 2nd Bundesliga replaced the two leagues.

1981–91

With the introduction of the single-division 2nd Bundesliga in 1981, a promotion round would have become unnecessary as the top-three teams could have been directly promoted. Instead, only the top-two teams archived direct promotion. The third placed club had to play the 16th placed club from the Bundesliga in a home-and-away round for the last spot in the first division. This series was played until 1991.

With the German reunion in 1991 and the influx of clubs from the former DDR-Oberliga, the promotion round between the two clubs was stopped. In the 1990–91 season, five clubs were promoted to the Bundesliga, three from the west and two from the east.

1991–92

As a transition season due to the integration of the East German clubs, only two clubs were promoted from the second to the first division. Also, the 2nd Bundesliga was split into two regional groups for this season.

1992–2008

In this era, the top-three teams of the 2. Bundesliga were directly promoted to the Bundesliga.

2008–present

From 2009, the promotion series between the 16th placed Bundesliga club and the third placed 2nd Bundesliga team will be reestablished.^[1] The Bundesliga follows thereby its own, past example^[2] and the one set by the English Premier League and the Italian Serie A, where these games are in place, too and quite popular.

Promoted teams

1963–74

Season	First	Second	Third
1963–64	Hannover 96	Borussia Neunkirchen	N/A
1964–65	FC Bayern Munich	Borussia Mönchengladbach	SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin
1965–66	Fortuna Düsseldorf	Rot-Weiss Essen	N/A
1966–67	Alemannia Aachen	Borussia Neunkirchen (2)	N/A
1967–68	Kickers Offenbach	Hertha BSC Berlin	N/A
1968–69	Rot-Weiss Essen (2)	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	N/A
1969–70	Arminia Bielefeld	Kickers Offenbach (2)	N/A
1970–71	VfL Bochum	Fortuna Düsseldorf (2)	N/A
1971–72	Wuppertaler SV	Kickers Offenbach (3)	N/A
1972–73	Rot-Weiss Essen (3)	Fortuna Köln	N/A
1973–74	Eintracht Braunschweig	Tennis Borussia Berlin	N/A

• In 1965, SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin was promoted to replace Hertha BSC Berlin in the league, without having qualified for it.

1974–81

Season	South	North	Third
1974–75	Karlsruher SC	Hannover 96 (2)	Bayer Uerdingen
1975–76	1. FC Saarbrücken	Tennis Borussia Berlin (2)	Borussia Dortmund
1976–77	VfB Stuttgart	FC St. Pauli	TSV 1860 Munich
1977–78	SV Darmstadt 98	Arminia Bielefeld (2)	1. FC Nuremberg
1978–79	TSV 1860 Munich (2)	Bayer Leverkusen	Bayer Uerdingen (2)
1979–80	1. FC Nuremberg (2)	Arminia Bielefeld (3)	Karlsruher SC (2)
1980–81	SV Darmstadt 98 (2)	Werder Bremen	Eintracht Braunschweig (2)

1981–90

Season	First	Second	Third
1981–82	FC Schalke 04	Hertha BSC Berlin (2)	N/A
1982–83	Waldhof Mannheim	Kickers Offenbach (4)	Bayer Uerdingen (3)
1983–84	Karlsruher SC (3)	FC Schalke 04 (2)	N/A
1984–85	1. FC Nuremberg (3)	Hannover 96 (3)	1. FC Saarbrücken (2)
1985–86	FC Homburg	SpVgg Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin	N/A
1986–87	Hannover 96 (4)	Karlsruher SC (4)	N/A
1987–88	Stuttgarter Kickers	FC St. Pauli (2)	N/A
1988–89	Fortuna Düsseldorf (3)	FC Homburg (2)	N/A
1989–90	Hertha BSC Berlin (2)	SG Wattenscheid 09	N/A

1990–91

Season	First	Second	Third	East First	East Second
1990–91	FC Schalke 04 (3)	MSV Duisburg	Stuttgarter Kickers (2)	Hansa Rostock	Dynamo Dresden

1991–92

Season	South	North
1991–92	1. FC Saarbrücken (3)	Bayer Uerdingen (4)

1992–present

Season	First	Second	Third
1992–93	SC Freiburg	MSV Duisburg (2)	VfB Leipzig
1993–94	VfL Bochum (2)	Bayer Uerdingen (5)	TSV 1860 Munich (3)
1994–95	Hansa Rostock (2)	FC St. Pauli (3)	Fortuna Düsseldorf (4)
1995–96	VfL Bochum (3)	Arminia Bielefeld (4)	MSV Duisburg (3)
1996–97	1. FC Kaiserslautern	VfL Wolfsburg	Hertha BSC Berlin (3)
1997–98	Eintracht Frankfurt	SC Freiburg (2)	1. FC Nuremberg (4)
1998–99	Arminia Bielefeld (5)	SpVgg Unterhaching	SSV Ulm 1846
1999–2000	1. FC Köln	VfL Bochum (4)	Energie Cottbus
2000–01	1. FC Nuremberg (5)	Borussia Mönchengladbach (2)	FC St. Pauli (4)
2001–02	Hannover 96 (5)	Arminia Bielefeld (6)	VfL Bochum (5)
2002–03	SC Freiburg (3)	1. FC Köln (2)	Eintracht Frankfurt (2)
2003–04	1. FC Nuremberg (6)	Arminia Bielefeld (7)	FSV Mainz 05
2004–05	1. FC Köln (3)	MSV Duisburg (4)	Eintracht Frankfurt (3)
2005–06	VfL Bochum (6)	Alemannia Aachen (2)	Energie Cottbus (2)
2006–07	Karlsruher SC (5)	Hansa Rostock (3)	MSV Duisburg (5)
2007–08	Borussia Mönchengladbach (3)	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	1. FC Köln (4)
2008–09	SC Freiburg (4)	FSV Mainz 05 (2)	1. FC Nuremberg (7)
2009–10	1. FC Kaiserslautern (2)	FC St. Pauli (5)	N/A
2010–11	Hertha BSC Berlin (4)	FC Augsburg	N/A
2011–12	SpVgg Greuther Fürth	Eintracht Frankfurt (4)	Fortuna Düsseldorf (5)
2012–13	Hertha BSC Berlin (5)	Eintracht Braunschweig (3)	N/A
2013–14	1. FC Köln (5)	SC Paderborn 07

• Number in brackets behind club denotes the number of promotion when there was more than one.

Clubs taking part in the promotion round

1963–74

Season	RL Süd (1st)	RL Süd (2nd)	RL Südwest (1st)	RL Südwest (2nd)
1963–64	Hessen Kassel	FC Bayern Munich	Borussia Neunkirchen	FK Pirmasens
1964–65	FC Bayern Munich	SSV Reutlingen	1. FC Saarbrücken	Wormatia Worms
1965–66	FC Schweinfurt 05	Kickers Offenbach	FK Pirmasens	1. FC Saarbrücken
1966–67	Kickers Offenbach	FC Bayern Hof	Borussia Neunkirchen	1. FC Saarbrücken
1967–68	FC Bayern Hof	Kickers Offenbach	SV Alsenborn	TuS Neuendorf
1968–69	Karlsruher SC	Freiburger FC	SV Alsenborn	TuS Neuendorf
1969–70	Kickers Offenbach	Karlsruher SC	SV Alsenborn	FK Pirmasens
1970–71	1. FC Nuremberg	Karlsruher SC	Borussia Neunkirchen	FK Pirmasens
1971–72	Kickers Offenbach	FC Bayern Hof	Borussia Neunkirchen	SV Röchling Völklingen
1972–73	SV Darmstadt 98	Karlsruher SC	FSV Mainz 05	SV Röchling Völklingen
1973–74	FC Augsburg	1. FC Nuremberg	Borussia Neunkirchen	1. FC Saarbrücken

Season	RL West (1st)	RL West (2nd)	RL Nord (1st)	RL Nord (2nd)	RL Berlin (1st)	RL Berlin (2nd)
1963–64	Alemannia Aachen	Wuppertaler SV	FC St. Pauli	Hannover 96	SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin	N/A
1964–65	Borussia Mönchengladbach	Alemannia Aachen	Holstein Kiel	FC St. Pauli	Tennis Borussia Berlin	N/A
1965–66	Fortuna Düsseldorf	Rot-Weiss Essen	FC St. Pauli	SC Göttingen 05	Hertha BSC Berlin	N/A
1966–67	Alemannia Aachen	Schwarz-Weiß Essen	Arminia Hannover	SC Göttingen 05	Hertha BSC Berlin	Tennis Borussia Berlin
1967–68	Bayer Leverkusen	Rot-Weiss Essen	Arminia Hannover	SC Göttingen 05	Hertha BSC Berlin	Tennis Borussia Berlin
1968–69	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	Rot-Weiss Essen	VfL Osnabrück	VfB Lübeck	Hertha Zehlendorf	SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin
1969–70	VfL Bochum	Arminia Bielefeld	VfL Osnabrück	VfL Wolfsburg	Hertha Zehlendorf	Tennis Borussia Berlin
1970–71	VfL Bochum	Fortuna Düsseldorf	VfL Osnabrück	FC St. Pauli	SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin	Wacker 04 Berlin
1971–72	Wuppertaler SV	Rot-Weiss Essen	FC St. Pauli	VfL Osnabrück	Wacker 04 Berlin	SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin
1972–73	Rot-Weiss Essen	Fortuna Köln	FC St. Pauli	VfL Osnabrück	SpVgg Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin	Wacker 04 Berlin
1973–74	SG Wattenscheid 09	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	Eintracht Braunschweig	FC St. Pauli	Tennis Borussia Berlin	Wacker 04 Berlin

• Bold denotes promoted team.
• In 1964, Wuppertaler SV lost to FK Pirmasens 1–2 and 0–2 in the qualifying, missing out on the promotion round.
• In 1965, FC St.Pauli lost to SSV Reutlingen 1–0 and 1–4 aet in the qualifying, missing out on the promotion round.
• In 1966, SC Göttingen 05 lost to 1. FC Saarbrücken 0–3 and 0–4 in the qualifying, missing out on the promotion round.

1974–1981

Date	South	North	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
1974–75	FK Pirmasens	Bayer Uerdingen	4–4	0–6	N/A
1975–76	1. FC Nuremberg	Borussia Dortmund	0–1	2–3	N/A
1976–77	TSV 1860 Munich	Arminia Bielefeld	4–0	0–4	2–0
1977–78	1. FC Nuremberg	Rot-Weiss Essen	1–0	2–2	N/A
1978–79	SpVgg Bayreuth	Bayer Uerdingen	1–1	1–2	N/A
1979–80	Karlsruher SC	Rot-Weiss Essen	5–1	1–3	N/A
1980–81	Kickers Offenbach	Eintracht Braunschweig	1–0	0–2	N/A

• Winner in bold.

1981–91

Date	Bundesliga 16th	2nd Bundesliga 3rd	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3
1981–82	Bayer Leverkusen	Kickers Offenbach	1–0	2–0	N/A
1982–83	FC Schalke 04	Bayer Uerdingen	1–3	1–1	N/A
1983–84	Eintracht Frankfurt	MSV Duisburg	5–0	1–1	N/A
1984–85	Arminia Bielefeld	1. FC Saarbrücken	2–0	1–1	N/A
1985–86	Borussia Dortmund	Fortuna Köln	0–2	3–1	8–0
1986–87	FC Homburg	FC St. Pauli	3–1	1–2	N/A
1987–88	Waldhof Mannheim	SV Darmstadt 98	2–3	2–1	0–0 / 5–4 after pen.
1988–89	Eintracht Frankfurt	1. FC Saarbrücken	2–0	1–2	N/A
1989–90	VfL Bochum	1. FC Saarbrücken	1–0	0–0	N/A
1990–91	FC St. Pauli	Stuttgarter Kickers	1–1	1–1	1–3

2009 onwards

Date	Bundesliga 16th	2nd Bundesliga 3rd	Game 1	Game 2
2008–09[3]	FC Energie Cottbus	1. FC Nuremberg	0–3	0–2
2009–10[4]	1. FC Nuremberg	FC Augsburg	1–0	2–0
2010–11[5]	Borussia Mönchengladbach	VfL Bochum	1–0	1–1
2011–12[6]	Hertha BSC Berlin	Fortuna Düsseldorf	1–2	2–2
2012–13[7]	TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	1. FC Kaiserslautern	3–1	2–1
2013–14[8]	Hamburger SV	SpVgg Greuther Fürth	0–0	1–1

• Winner in bold.

See also

• Promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga

References

Sources

• Deutsche Liga Chronik seit 1945 (German) Historic tables of German football (First, Second and Third Division), publisher: DSFS, published: 2006
• kicker Almanach 1990 (German) Yearbook of German football, publisher: kicker, published: 1989, ISBN 3-7679-0297-4

External links

• Official Bundesliga website

Bundesliga seasons 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 Introduction of the Bundesliga

2. Bundesliga seasons 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 Introduction of the 2. Bundesliga Top scorers

Football in Germany German Football Association League competitions Bundesliga 2. Bundesliga 3. Liga Regionalliga Oberliga Verbandsliga Landesliga Bezirksoberliga Gruppenliga Bezirksliga Kreisliga Kreisklasse Cup competitions DFB-Pokal DFB-Ligapokal DFL-Supercup National teams National team B team Olympic team U21 team Other youth teams Manager All-time record World Cup performance By city Berlin Munich Champions Clubs Records History Venues Player category International players International players 1908–1942 Footballer of the Year