There was once a “Wendelsteiner” from Bavaria, in 2017 the “Wendelsteiner Template” followed, but there is currently a push from the northeast of the country, which the Bavarian Football Association (BFV) first encounters quite defensively. After a few weeks ago of the 18 clubs of the Regionalliga Northeast, a discussion about the promotion from the fourth to the third league, only one thing seems to be sure: the whole thing will go into an extension that nobody can say about how long it will take.
The game starts again on Saturday in Bavaria, the good news is: the regional league is exciting in a sporty way. And that in a year in which you can rise directly. In the Grünwald stadium, the top game of FC Bayern Munich II is rising against FC Schweinfurt. It is a catch -up game of the 13th match day, in which the second receives the first.
BFV President Christoph Kern is annoyed that he cannot be there, he’s birthday on Saturday and celebrates with the family. However, he admits that the eyes in the afternoon rather to focus on the live ticker from the game. The almost 42-year-old president still calls the regional league Bayern a “top format”. “We would like to receive the regional league Bayern, our position on any reforms is known,” he says in an interview with the SZ. The following position is already recorded in the “Wendelsteiner Template”: “(…) An union of the Regionalliga Bavaria with the Northeast German regional league teams from Saxony and Thuringia into a regional league southeast and an association of the Regionalliga Nord with the northeast German regional league teams from Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ”.
Upon request, Kern now confirms that such a reform will be carried along. “There would be one or the other spectacular game more,” he says, thinking of possible encounters like Bayreuth against Jena, who should certainly attract more away drivers than Bayreuth against Buchbach. However, Kern is important with a reform, however, “that Bavaria remains completely”, that illertissen and Buchbach first play in the same league. In addition, the Bavarian Association shows that the number of participating clubs from the respective federal state had to judge in the premiere season based on the number of members – Bavaria would initially provide around two thirds of the teams. However, it can be assumed that pure amateur clubs could hardly afford the effort due to the long trips. For example, there are 371 kilometers between Buchbach and Jena.
The next judgment in the procedure for the U23 rule violations of Schwaben Augsburg is pending
On the part of the German Football Association, the advance is slowed down anyway. Overall, you don’t see a solution in sight, explained Manuel Hartmann, managing director of the game company at the DFB, in an interview with the MDR. Behind the hand, many consider the advance to be inevitable: he would come from clubs, not even from the associations whose delegates would have to vote on it in autumn at the next DFB Bundestag. The three reform proposals are not new and at the same time illogical, it is said. An example: The campaign was initiated under the hashtag #championship mast climbing. However, one of the suggestions is that five regional league champions play in the mode of each four promoters.
From the Bavarian point of view, the question is: Is a purely Bavarian fourth league still sensible and attractive enough? Last season, the two best teams from the Bayernliga Süd did not want to take part in the “top shape” because they could not or did not want to fulfill the requirements. Kern himself admits that it is “not particularly beautiful” if home games of a Bundesliga-U21 have “just 150 spectators”, but: “The number is one, the sporting quality is the other.” Overall, however, he still sees a great attractiveness of the league. For example, the BFV is also satisfied with the number of spectators, which many games achieve in the streaming service.
However, the Bavarian regional league currently has many other construction sites. With the SpVgg Bayreuth, a traditional club has obviously come into financial difficulties that would probably benefit from a reform. The club has now called for a crowdfunding campaign that half a million euros had to come together by early summer. The regional league cannot do much for the contaminated sites at the old town at first, most of the debts mainly come from third division times. However, the case shows that a professional football model, like in Bayreuth, is hardly profitable under the existing conditions: On the one hand, the club goes to risk and even commits a former second division player as the third in the table in Jermain; On the other hand, he finds it difficult to pay the contributions for the professional association.
The regional league was also in the headlines because of a legal dispute, which currently makes it even more exciting than it should be. The next judgment in the procedure for the U23 rule violations of Schwaben Augsburg is pending, and it will probably even be published before the coming weekend. However, the judgment is still not final, and FC Schweinfurt will not know exactly on Saturday at the kick -off whether it has one or four points ahead of the opponent FC Bayern II. “Of course we are interested in having clarity for everyone as soon as possible,” says Kern. At the same time, the lawyer emphasizes not to get involved in the procedure. There is no live ticker, but here too he will pursue the further course with excitement.