 The Braunschweig Lions were formed in 1987 and the new team entered the tier-three "Regionalliga Nord" for that season, where it came third.The Lions were nevertheless promoted to the "2nd Bundesliga", now the German Football League 2, for the following season and spent the next six years at this level.The team was never outstanding at this level for the first five years, only finishing once with a percentage above .500 in this era.