The Second Bundesligas were formed after the German reunion in the early 1990s, originally as four regional leagues, North, East, West and South.

Bremen, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, Thuringia and Saarland have no 2nd Bundesliga club.

However, RC Luxembourg's application was declared valid in regards to the German rugby federations rules and regulations and the team finished second in the promotion round, earning a place in the 2nd Bundesliga for 2009-10.

It also meant, for the first time ever, that no club from Hanover would compete at the top level of German rugby.

[6] On 22 August 2011, five days before the 2011-12 season start, the RG Heidelberg withdrew its reserve team from the 2nd Rugby-Bundesliga South/West, citing inability to guarantee a full player squad for the whole season and thereby forcing the South/West division to compete with nine clubs only.

[7] The Berliner RC II withdrew during the season, also citing a lack of players as the reason while the RU Hohen Neuendorf was disqualified after not fielding a team in two league games.

In mid-July 2012 the Deutsche Rugby Tag, the annual general meeting of the DRV decided to approve a league reform proposed by German international Manuel Wilhelm.

The championship play-offs after the second stage will be reduced from sixteen to twelve clubs with the top two teams in each group advancing directly to the quarter-finals while the remaining eight will play a wild card round to determine the other four quarter finalists.