The German Football Association currently sees no solution in sight to change the promotion regulations for the north-east German regional leagues. "The decisive point, however, is whether the clubs and associations can find solutions together at the fourth division level," said Manuel Hartmann, Managing Director of Match Operations at the DFB, in an interview with MDR. For this to happen, there must be a fundamental willingness from all parties involved to find a solution.
"That is not foreseeable for us at the moment, because we have now heard the perspective from the north-east." He added: "Of course, more parties are needed to find a solution."
In the previous week, 17 of the 18 NOFV clubs had made a new push to get a direct promotion to the third division. Under the motto "Promotion reform 2025 - #meistermüssenaufsteigen#", they want to provide the North-East German Football Association (NOFV) with proposals for action for a motion at the DFB Bundesestag in September.
Relegation is a nuisance for NOFV clubs
Various solutions were presented. The promotion regulations, which have been in place since 2017 and were modified in 2019, stipulate that the champions of the associations with the most members, South-West and West, are promoted directly. The other three associations always have one directly promoted player in turn. The remaining two associations have to play a relegation play-off.
"I wouldn't want to sign off on whether this is the right formula in the long term. It's about coming up with clever arguments that are capable of consensus. At the time, these parameters were brought in and deemed to be correct by the DFB Bundestag - and with a clear majority," said Hartmann.
However, if there are new developments that come to the conclusion that "the number of men's teams in the game is not the right parameter, but current sporting developments, we can talk about it". This is the argument of the NOFV clubs with the highest spectator numbers.
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