Compass Model or Regional Model? The Regional League Reform Working Group has developed two proposals. RWO Chairman Marcus Uhlig shares his views.

Last Wednesday marked the fifth and final meeting of the Regional League Reform Working Group. The result: The group developed two proposed solutions. The central component of both models is the same: In the future, there will be only four regional leagues, so that all champions can be promoted directly.

Currently, only the champions from the Southwest and West have guaranteed promotion spots, while the champions from the North, Bavaria, and the East must compete in a promotion-relegation playoff in two out of three seasons. To change this, the “Promotion Reform” alliance was formed, which now includes 70 clubs, including Rot-Weiß Oberhausen.

Solution number one is the Compass Model. It proposes reducing the current five divisions to four. The resulting 80 teams (instead of 90) would be grouped annually using AI to keep travel distances as short as possible. The second option, the regional model, proposes merging the Northern, Northeastern, and Bavarian regional leagues into two divisions. The Western and Southwestern regional leagues would remain in their current form. This concept was primarily championed by association representatives from Bavaria, the West, Southwest, and North, while numerous club officials and fans prefer the Compass Model.

The next step is now to present both models to the clubs to gauge their opinions on the proposals. Further decision-making processes will then be carried out based on this feedback. “First of all, I’m glad that a result was achieved at all regarding this complex issue, even if there are now essentially two outcomes,” says RWO Chairman Marcus Uhlig in an interview with the “NRZ.” A new model with four Regional League divisions could be implemented starting in the 2028/2029 season if approved. In this case, the qualifying season would be the 2027/2028 season.