was quickly replaced with relegation trouble in the new 2. Bundesliga. The next five seasons saw lower table finishes, the temporary departure of Helmut Haller and frequent replacements of managers. By 1978–79, the club was unable to avoid relegation, despite Haller, at the age of 40, once more taking to the field for FCA for a last time. The club, after six seasons in the second division, returned to the Bayernliga. FCA was able to break the fall and win the Bavarian league title to gain promotion back to the 2. Bundesliga straight away in 1979–80. On top of this, the team qualified for the German amateur football championship, where it went all the way to the final before losing to VfB Stuttgart's reserve side. But the club's promotion back to the second level faced a major obstacle. The 2. Bundesliga, after 1981, was to operate in a single division and with half as many clubs as before, meaning the club had to fulfill the qualifying norm, not an easy task for a freshly promoted side. FCA finished 18th in 1980–81, not enough to hold the league in a normal season and definitely not enough in 1981. The club once more won the Bavarian league on first attempt, defeating Schwaben in the first two Augsburg league derbies since 1968, but now had to enter a promotion round to determine the two teams that would go up out of the four Southern German league champions. FCA came second behind FSV Frankfurt and returned to the 2. Bundesliga once more, despite some of the gate receipts already being processed during the game against FC 08 Homburg by the tax department due to outstanding debts. However, the side was again not strong enough for this level and was relegated on a slightly worse goal average then 16th-placed Union Solingen, lacking three goals to salvation. It was to be Augsburg's last season in the second tier for almost a quarter of a century. Bayernliga: 1983 to 1994 FCA was to spend the next 11 seasons once more in Bavaria's highest league, the Bayernliga, at the time still the third tier of league football in the state. With the gradual reduction of the number of second divisions from five in 1974 to one in 1981, a number of Bavarian clubs that had once played at higher level had now dropped down to this level, and