 Promoted to the league were 08 Ricklingen/Wunstorf, TuS 95 Düsseldorf and Veltener RC while RC Luxembourg had withdrawn from the competition.The first stage of the competition, the "Vorrunde", saw four six-team groupes in which each team played the other five just once.This stage finished in late September after which the second stage started, the "Qualifikationsphase", in which the top teams each from the southern and the western group play each other in one group while the top teams from the north and east play each other in another.