1980–81 2. Bundesliga

2. Bundesliga
Season	1980–81
Champions	Nord: Werder Bremen; Süd: SV Darmstadt 98
Promoted	Nord: Werder Bremen; Eintracht Braunschweig; Süd: SV Darmstadt 98
Relegated	Nord: 12 clubs ; Süd: 10 clubs
Matches played	Nord: 462; Süd: 380
Top goalscorer	Nord: Frank Mill; (40 goals); Süd: Horst Neumann; (26 goals)
Average attendance	Nord: 5,672; Süd: 4,379
	← 1979–80 1981–82 →

The 1980–81 2. Bundesliga season was the seventh season of the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system. It was played in two regional divisions, Nord and Süd. This was the final season of the original two region 2. Bundesliga, as the DFB sought to integrate the Nord and Süd divisions into a single division for the next campaign. This meant 22 teams faced the drop to the Oberliga (12 from the Nord, 10 from the Süd). There were three promotion spots to the Bundesliga on offer, while the remaining teams would enter the new single league 2. Bundesliga in the next season.

Werder Bremen, Eintracht Braunschweig and SV Darmstadt 98 were promoted to the Bundesliga while twenty two clubs were relegated to the Oberligas.

Nord

The 1980–81 season saw 1. FC Bocholt, Göttingen 05, SpVgg Erkenschwick and VfB Oldenburg promoted to the 2. Bundesliga from the Oberligas while Hertha BSC, Werder Bremen and Eintracht Braunschweig had been relegated to the 2. Bundesliga Nord from the Bundesliga.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Werder Bremen (C, P)	42	30	8	4	97	33	+64	68	Promotion to Bundesliga
2	Eintracht Braunschweig (P)	42	29	7	6	102	44	+58	65	Qualification for promotion play-offs
3	Hertha BSC	42	31	2	9	123	42	+81	64
4	Hannover 96	42	20	16	6	88	49	+39	56
5	Alemannia Aachen	42	24	7	11	80	51	+29	55
6	VfL Osnabrück	42	22	8	12	76	50	+26	52
7	SG Union Solingen	42	20	10	12	76	61	+15	50
8	Rot-Weiss Essen	42	20	7	15	99	74	+25	47
9	Fortuna Köln	42	18	10	14	83	67	+16	46
10	SG Wattenscheid 09	42	15	12	15	62	68	−6	42
11	Viktoria Köln (R)	42	14	13	15	67	79	−12	41	Relegation to Oberliga
12	1. FC Bocholt (R)	42	14	10	18	66	70	−4	38
13	Preußen Münster (R)	42	14	8	20	48	72	−24	36
14	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen (R)	42	12	11	19	59	84	−25	35
15	VfB Oldenburg (R)	42	12	10	20	64	89	−25	34
16	SC Herford (R)	42	11	10	21	48	65	−17	32
17	Tennis Borussia Berlin (R)	42	9	14	19	47	71	−24	32
18	1. SC Göttingen 05 (R)	42	9	14	19	67	98	−31	32
19	Holstein Kiel (R)	42	12	7	23	48	81	−33	31
20	Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid (R)	42	8	11	23	43	83	−40	27
21	SpVgg Erkenschwick (R)	42	7	8	27	46	91	−45	22
22	OSV Hannover (R)	42	7	5	30	41	108	−67	19

Source: Bundesliga.de
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	AAC	BSC	TBB	BHO	EBS	SVW	ERK	RWE	G05	H96	OSV	HER	KSV	FKO	FCV	RWL	PRM	RWO	OLD	OSN	SGU	SGW
Alemannia Aachen	—	4–1	1–3	3–1	0–1	2–0	5–1	4–3	3–1	2–1	2–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	4–2	2–0	4–0	0–0	2–0	5–0	3–1	4–2
Hertha BSC	0–1	—	2–0	5–0	2–4	1–2	4–1	3–2	4–0	1–0	3–2	3–1	5–1	5–1	4–0	2–0	6–0	4–2	2–0	2–0	4–2	8–0
Tennis Borussia Berlin	1–1	1–4	—	2–2	1–3	0–1	1–1	1–0	3–2	2–2	1–0	2–1	3–1	1–2	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–3	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–1
1. FC Bocholt	1–0	0–3	1–1	—	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–1	4–2	1–2	4–0	2–1	0–1	1–1	6–2	6–0	0–2	1–0	3–1	2–1	1–2	2–1
Eintracht Braunschweig	1–1	0–4	4–0	3–0	—	2–2	2–0	2–0	4–0	2–0	3–2	3–1	2–0	1–0	3–0	3–3	4–1	3–0	7–0	2–2	1–1	3–0
Werder Bremen	6–0	1–1	3–0	1–2	2–1	—	2–1	1–0	3–0	3–0	4–0	3–1	5–1	2–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	6–1	4–0	3–1	3–0	3–1
SpVgg Erkenschwick	2–3	1–4	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	—	0–2	4–0	0–0	3–3	2–1	2–2	0–4	2–3	1–3	0–1	2–1	3–2	2–2	4–2	0–2
Rot-Weiss Essen	4–0	0–4	2–0	5–3	2–6	1–0	2–0	—	4–1	1–1	6–0	4–2	6–0	3–2	4–0	5–4	5–0	5–2	4–1	2–1	2–0	2–2
Göttingen 05	4–2	1–2	5–3	3–2	2–4	1–3	4–0	4–2	—	1–4	6–1	1–1	3–0	3–5	3–3	1–1	2–4	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–2	0–0
Hannover 96	2–1	1–1	5–3	1–1	1–1	0–0	6–1	4–1	1–1	—	4–2	3–2	3–1	4–0	4–0	2–0	3–2	7–2	3–3	1–1	2–3	1–1
OSV Hannover	0–4	0–6	0–1	3–2	0–3	1–3	4–1	2–6	1–1	0–2	—	3–2	0–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–3	2–1	1–3	0–0	1–2
SC Herford	1–1	0–5	2–1	0–2	1–2	0–2	1–0	1–3	2–0	0–2	3–0	—	1–0	0–0	1–2	3–1	3–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–1
Holstein Kiel	2–3	2–1	1–1	0–3	0–2	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	—	2–1	3–3	0–0	3–1	3–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	2–0
Fortuna Köln	0–1	3–1	2–2	3–3	5–2	3–2	2–2	3–0	0–1	3–0	5–0	1–1	3–2	—	3–2	5–2	3–0	2–2	4–0	1–2	2–1	3–1
Viktoria Köln	1–0	0–3	3–0	3–3	2–1	1–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	0–3	2–2	—	3–0	3–1	3–0	4–1	2–6	2–0	2–3
Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid	1–3	1–3	0–0	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	4–2	4–2	2–1	1–0	1–3	—	1–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–2	1–1
Preußen Münster	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	0–1	2–3	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–2	0–1	2–0	3–2	0–3	2–0	—	1–2	2–1	1–0	2–2	0–1
Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	1–1	1–6	1–1	1–1	2–4	1–1	2–1	1–1	7–1	0–2	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	0–0	4–0	3–3	—	2–1	0–1	0–1	3–2
VfB Oldenburg	1–0	2–0	2–0	4–1	0–4	0–3	3–1	3–2	2–2	2–7	4–1	0–0	2–1	5–0	2–2	6–2	3–0	0–1	—	0–0	2–2	3–3
VfL Osnabrück	0–1	3–0	2–2	1–0	2–1	1–4	3–0	4–0	4–0	0–0	3–1	2–0	3–0	3–1	4–1	2–0	1–2	2–1	4–1	—	2–0	3–3
Union Solingen	1–0	1–3	2–1	2–1	2–0	2–4	3–0	3–2	6–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	4–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	1–1	5–0	6–2	2–1	—	2–1
SG Wattenscheid	3–0	0–1	2–0	3–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	2–1	4–2	0–1	3–2	3–1	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	—

Source: DFB
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Goals	Player	Team
40	Frank Mill	Rot-Weiss Essen
36	Werner Killmaier	Hertha BSC Berlin
30	Horst Feilzer	VfL Osnabrück
30	Ronald Worm	Eintracht Braunschweig
29	Erwin Kostedde	SV Werder Bremen
27	Dieter Schatzschneider	Hannover 96
22	Thomas Remark	Hertha BSC Berlin
21	Bernd Krumbein	SG Union Solingen/OSV Hannover
20	Werner Lenz	SG Union Solingen
20	Harald Snater	1. SC Göttingen 05

Süd

The 1980–81 season saw Borussia Neunkirchen, FC Augsburg, Hessen Kassel and VfB Eppingen promoted to the 2. Bundesliga from the Oberligas while no club had been relegated to the 2. Bundesliga Süd from the Bundesliga.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Darmstadt 98 (C, P)	38	24	7	7	85	42	+43	55	Promotion to Bundesliga
2	Kickers Offenbach	38	19	12	7	87	42	+45	50	Qualification for promotion play-offs
3	Stuttgarter Kickers	38	19	10	9	81	40	+41	48
4	KSV Hessen Kassel	38	16	16	6	59	35	+24	48
5	SSV Ulm 1846^[a] (R)	38	18	11	9	59	39	+20	47	Relegation to Oberliga
6	Waldhof Mannheim	38	19	7	12	65	43	+22	45
7	SC Freiburg	38	16	9	13	57	50	+7	41
8	Eintracht Trier^[a] (R)	38	15	11	12	56	52	+4	41	Relegation to Oberliga
9	SpVgg Bayreuth	38	15	9	14	60	53	+7	39
10	Freiburger FC	38	15	9	14	76	75	+1	39
11	FC Homburg^[a] (R)	38	14	10	14	66	69	−3	38	Relegation to Oberliga
12	Wormatia Worms	38	15	7	16	60	70	−10	37
13	VfR Bürstadt^[a] (R)	38	15	7	16	54	66	−12	37	Relegation to Oberliga
14	SpVgg Fürth	38	15	5	18	54	54	0	35
15	FSV Frankfurt (R)	38	13	6	19	51	76	−25	32	Relegation to Oberliga
16	ESV Ingolstadt (R)	38	14	3	21	62	92	−30	31
17	1. FC Saarbrücken (R)	38	10	8	20	43	61	−18	28
18	FC Augsburg (R)	38	7	10	21	55	88	−33	24
19	Borussia Neunkirchen (R)	38	5	13	20	44	85	−41	23
20	VfB Eppingen (R)	38	7	8	23	44	86	−42	22

Source: Bundesliga.de
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d SSV Ulm 1846, SV Eintracht Trier, FC 08 Homburg and VfR OLI Bürstadt had their licenses revoked and were therefore relegated.

Results

Home \ Away	FCA	BAY	BUE	D98	EPP	FSV	FFC	SCF	FUE	HOM	ESV	KAS	WMA	BNE	KOF	FCS	SKI	TRI	ULM	W08
FC Augsburg	—	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	3–0	3–5	1–1	1–3	4–2	3–2	4–3	0–0	2–2	2–2	3–1	0–1
SpVgg Bayreuth	2–3	—	0–0	2–1	0–0	0–1	5–1	1–0	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	4–3	1–4	1–2	1–3	1–2
VfR Bürstadt	2–0	1–3	—	1–1	2–1	0–1	4–1	1–1	2–3	3–1	1–2	2–0	0–1	4–1	2–2	2–1	3–2	2–1	1–4	1–1
Darmstadt 98	2–2	3–2	5–0	—	2–0	2–0	6–3	1–0	2–1	4–0	9–2	5–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–2	1–0	2–0	1–1	5–0
VfB Eppingen	1–1	0–5	2–1	2–2	—	5–1	2–1	1–3	1–2	0–5	1–4	2–4	3–2	2–2	0–2	4–0	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–0
FSV Frankfurt	5–3	0–0	1–4	1–0	3–2	—	2–6	3–2	3–0	0–2	1–3	1–0	0–2	4–2	1–1	3–0	1–1	3–0	3–1	2–1
Freiburger FC	6–1	3–2	3–2	2–0	2–1	1–1	—	1–2	2–0	7–3	2–2	0–3	1–0	5–2	4–2	3–1	1–3	0–0	0–1	3–1
SC Freiburg	1–0	2–1	3–1	0–4	2–0	2–1	0–0	—	2–0	0–1	4–0	0–0	1–1	3–0	4–1	2–0	1–4	0–2	2–0	5–2
SpVgg Fürth	0–1	2–1	0–1	1–2	2–1	2–0	1–1	3–0	—	1–1	3–0	2–2	3–1	8–0	2–1	2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	0–1
FC Homburg	4–2	1–3	1–1	1–7	1–0	5–1	2–0	2–2	2–0	—	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	2–2	1–1	4–0	2–3	5–3
ESV Ingolstadt	4–1	0–0	4–1	2–0	3–1	3–0	4–3	1–4	2–3	2–1	—	0–2	6–1	3–1	0–5	3–1	0–2	2–1	1–3	0–3
Hessen Kassel	5–2	1–2	4–0	4–4	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–0	7–1	—	3–1	2–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	0–0	4–2
Waldhof Mannheim	2–2	1–1	2–0	2–0	3–1	1–0	5–0	2–0	2–1	4–0	4–0	0–0	—	4–0	1–0	2–1	2–3	1–0	1–0	3–0
Borussia Neunkirchen	3–1	0–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	0–3	1–1	3–3	2–1	5–1	2–2	0–0	—	0–3	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–1	2–1
Kickers Offenbach	4–1	1–1	6–1	3–1	5–1	2–2	4–2	5–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–1	—	5–1	4–2	4–0	1–0	7–1
1. FC Saarbrücken	3–0	0–2	0–2	0–1	1–0	3–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	2–3	5–1	1–2	2–0	2–0	1–4	—	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–1
Stuttgarter Kickers	3–0	1–1	3–1	1–2	6–0	6–0	4–0	4–2	2–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	3–1	6–0	0–0	1–0	—	0–0	1–2	3–2
Eintracht Trier	3–1	4–2	0–1	4–0	5–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	4–1	1–1	0–5	2–2	4–2	0–1	2–1	—	3–2	1–0
SSV Ulm	3–1	3–0	3–0	1–2	3–1	5–0	2–2	2–2	3–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	3–2	1–0	1–1	—	1–0
Wormatia Worms	3–1	3–2	1–2	0–0	5–1	2–1	1–3	2–2	3–1	0–0	3–2	0–0	3–2	3–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	3–2	2–0	—

Source: DFB
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

The league's top scorers:^[1]

Goals	Player	Team
26	Horst Neumann	SV Darmstadt 98
25	Uwe Bein	Kickers Offenbach
23	Franz Gerber	ESV Ingolstadt
22	Paul Linz	Freiburger FC
22	Bodo Mattern	VfR Wormatia Worms
19	Lothar Leiendecker	Eintracht Trier
19	Heinz Traser	1. FC Saarbrücken
18	Herbert Demange	FC 08 Homburg
18	Hans Jörg	FC Augsburg
17	Peter Cestonaro	SV Darmstadt 98
	Werner Hofmann	FSV Frankfurt
	Werner Nickel	Stuttgarter Kickers

Promotion play-offs

The final place in the Bundesliga was contested between the two runners-up in the Nord and Süd divisions. Eintracht Braunschweig won on aggregate and were promoted to the Bundesliga.^[2]

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kickers Offenbach (S)	1–2	Eintracht Braunschweig (N)	1–0	0–2

Qualification for single-division 2. Bundesliga

There was a sophisticated system for qualifying for the new single-division 2. Bundesliga. First, the clubs had to meet technical qualification criteria. These stipulated that the stadiums had to accommodate at least 15,000 spectators and had to be equipped with floodlights within a certain period of time. If these requirements were met, sporting criteria would come into play. The non-promoted teams in fourth place and above from the Nord and Süd divisions, along with the three relegated teams from the 1980–81 Bundesliga, automatically qualified. The other participants (teams from 5th to 16th place in the Nord and Süd) were determined by a so-called "placement number" (German: Platzziffer). This was calculated from the positions achieved by teams in the last three seasons. The lower this number was, the better the club was placed. For the 1978–79 season, the table position was multiplied by one, the 1979–80 season by two and the current 1980–81 season by three. Seasons in the Bundesliga were tallied as zero. For Oberliga seasons in which teams did not achieve promotion, 20 points were added, and 16 points for seasons which teams were promoted. It was also important from which region the three relegated teams of the Bundesliga were from, as well as how many teams were promoted from the respective Nord and Süd divisions. At the end, 10 teams from the Nord and Süd divisions had represented in the next season. Teams in 17th and below from the Nord and Süd were relegated, irrespective of their placement number. There was no promotion for teams from the Oberliga going into the single-division season.^[3]

Team promoted

Team remains in league based on league position

Team remains in league based on placement number

Team relegated based on placement number

Team relegated based on league position

Nord
Pos	Team	Place
1	Werder Bremen	3
2	Eintracht Braunschweig	6
3	Hertha BSC	9
4	Hannover 96	33

5	Alemannia Aachen	36
6	Rot-Weiss Essen	36
7	Fortuna Köln	43
8	Union Solingen	48
9	SG Wattenscheid	50
10	VfL Osnabrück	52
11	Viktoria Köln	57
12	Preußen Münster	62
13	1. FC Bocholt	88
14	Rot-Weiß Oberhausen	88
15	VfB Oldenburg	97
16	SC Herford	98

17	Tennis Borussia Berlin	88
18	Göttingen 05	106
19	Holstein Kiel	99
20	Rot-Weiß Lüdenscheid	111
21	SpVgg Erkenschwick	115
22	OSV Hannover	106

Süd
Pos	Team	Place
1	Darmstadt 98	11
2	Kickers Offenbach	28
3	Stuttgarter Kickers	24
4	Hessen Kassel	64

5	SC Freiburg	48
6	SpVgg Bayreuth	55
7	Waldhof Mannheim	56
8	Wormatia Worms	59
9	SpVgg Fürth	60
10	Freiburger FC	61
11	SSV Ulm	63
12	Eintracht Trier	64
13	FC Homburg	64
14	VfR Bürstadt	83
15	FSV Frankfurt	93
16	ESV Ingolstadt	98

17	1. FC Saarbrücken	69
18	FC Augsburg	104
19	Borussia Neunkirchen	109
20	VfB Eppingen	112

References

^ 2. Bundesliga 1980/1981 Nord Torschützenliste (in German) Weltfussball.de – Top scorers, retrieved 8 November 2015
^ Relegation Bundesliga 1980/1981 (in German) Weltfussball.de – Promotion round, retrieved 8 November 2015
^ "Saison 1980/1981" [1980–81 season]. spvgg-erkenschwick.de (in German). SpVgg Erkenschwick. Archived from the original on 24 May 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.