How is the mode in the football points round 2021/22 in the Donau / Isar district?
District - Will the soccer championship in the 2021/22 season in the Donau / Isar district be played in the conventional way or will an alternative game model be used?
The clubs of the Donau / Isar playing area must answer this question by vote by Sunday.
The clubs received the necessary information about the new game model in a webinar on Thursday from the district game leaders.
In the alternative game variant, following a preliminary round, similar to the playoffs in ice hockey, the champions, relegants and relegated players would be determined by promotion and relegation round.
For the preliminary round mode, the clubs from the Donau / Isar district also have the option of choosing from two variants. On the one hand, a preliminary round with two regional groups would be conceivable, consisting of six to eight teams depending on the size of the league. There, the preliminary round placement would be determined in the first and second leg. On the other hand, there would be the variant of determining the table using a single round and then dividing it into promotion and relegation rounds.
Both preliminary round variants have advantages and disadvantages. What speaks for the regional groups is that there are a lot of derbies with back and forth legs, which means that there may be more tension. On the other hand, some clubs in the other group would not play at all during one season and the transition to playoff mode would be difficult. The preliminary round points against the teams in the same group should be taken there. But that only makes sense if everyone has played the same number of preliminary round games. Otherwise, separate bonus points for the preliminary round placement would have to be awarded here instead.
In the "single round" variant, every league opponent would be played at least once, but there would be no return games in the preliminary round, which could lead to a perceived injustice in the distribution of home and away games (derbies, long journeys). In the subsequent championship / relegation round you would play again against all teams in the round. But it feels like all the cracker games could take place there too.
The crux of the new game mode is its applicability to smaller leagues with an uneven number of teams, the feeling of unequal treatment and the ability to plan common home games in the clubs.
The new mode would definitely reduce the total number of game days in a league and thus increase flexibility in the event of postponements.
It will be decided by Sunday evening whether the clubs want to leave traditional structures they have come to love.
Josef Fuchs
