II. DDR-Liga

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II. DDR-Liga

The II. DDR-Liga, from 1955 to 1963, was the third level of football in East Germany. It sat below the DDR-Liga and above the Bezirksliga.

Structure and changes
- It started with two divisions, Nord and Süd, each containing 14 teams.
- In the first season there were no promotions or relegations; teams played only within their division.
- For the first six seasons, schedules followed a calendar-year format (like the Soviet system). In the second season the divisions switched to a home-and-away format.
- The bottom teams were relegated to the Bezirksliga, and the division champions were promoted to the DDR-Liga.
- In 1957 the relegation rules were adjusted to three relegations in that year.
- The league later added three more groups (all 14 teams) arranged by district (from north to south) to save travel. The five group champions played a round to determine three promotions to the DDR-Liga.
- The number of relegations varied, and teams could be moved between groups to keep numbers balanced.
- The competition briefly used an autumn-to-spring schedule during a transition period, with a three-round format and 39 games per club.

Final season and abolition
- In the last season, the five group champions plus one runner-up were promoted to the DDR-Liga, which then expanded to 16 clubs. The rest were moved back to Bezirksligen.
- After this reform, the II. DDR-Liga was abolished and the Bezirksligas remained as the fourth-tier leagues.
- The Bezirksligas consisted of around 15 regional leagues below the II. DDR-Liga. In the final years of the II. DDR-Liga, East Germany’s states created their own regional leagues (except Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Berlin), and these regional leagues still exist today in various forms.
- The Bezirksligas mostly disappeared or were renamed or reorganized over time.