The best non-reserve side in the league was the Preußen Münster, finishing fourth, 15 points clear of the champion.

FC Saarbrücken and Bonner SC were promoted to the league for the following season, while Waldhof Mannheim crossed over from the southern division to the west.

FC Saarbrücken, a club freshly promoted from the Oberliga who had played in the Bundesliga in the past but fallen down the ranks in the league system.

[6] At the end of the 2009–10 season, Rot-Weiss Essen, Waldhof Mannheim and Bonner SC were all refused a Regionalliga licence and relegated.

[5] For Rot-Weiss Essen this was especially bitter, having been the best-supported club in the league for the second year running, with 5,955 spectators per home game.

Bayer Leverkusen II was once more the least-best supported team but managed to raise its average to 401 spectators by game.

[7] The teams promoted from the Oberliga at the end of the season were FC 08 Homburg, SC Wiedenbrück and the reserves of Arminia Bielefeld.

Wormatia Worms had left the league for the southern division to avoid an uneven number of teams between the three Regionalligas after two of the three 3rd Liga outgoers had been from the west.

[11] On that date, the Bundestag delegates voted to grant the Südwest and West champions two direct promotions indefinitely starting in 2021.

A third direct promotion place will be assigned according to a rotation principle among the Regionalliga Nord, Nordost and Bavarian champions.

[12] At the end of March 2023, the Western German Football Association (WDFV) confirmed the Regionalliga West's status as a professional league for the first time with regard to the 2023–24 season's licensing procedure.

North Rhine-Westphalia had already classified the league as such in the 2020–21 season to enable the "numerous professional footballers" to continue practicing their profession.