The pilot project in the Zugspitze soccer district includes a new game model with promotion and relegation rounds.
There could also be play-offs.
Now the clubs vote.
District - The well-known league game form in amateur football could soon be replaced by a new one.
The Zugspitze district wants to lead the way with a two to three-year pilot project.
The main point is the division of the season into two sections.
The first should last until the winter break, then all leagues should be divided into promotion and relegation rounds - every year anew.
Heinz Eckl, district chairman of the Zugspitze playing area in the Bavarian Football Association (BFV), presented the details of this model, which is to come into effect from the coming 2021/22 season, in a webinar on Friday evening to almost 250 club officials and interested parties.
He promoted the innovation and made it clear that you could return to the previous game model at the end of the pilot project period.
Other gaming groups such as Munich, Danube / Isar and Inn / Salzach are already interested in the new mode, according to Eckl.
New play model in the Zugspitze district: the basis of the project
The basic idea of a modification is already two years old, said Eckl in his introduction.
However, the corona pandemic ensured that the plans were initially put on hold, only to be taken up again and further changed and adapted in the past weeks and months.
Now that a little light can be seen at the end of the tunnel regarding the pandemic, the time has come to inform the clubs about the planned pilot project.
Twenty club representatives, five from each region in the Zugspitze district, including the two football department heads Jens Rindermann from Gautinger SC and Nikolai von Dehn from TSV Hechendorf and Christian Feirer, chairman of the board and coach of the second team of FSV Höhenrain, were involved in the drafting.
"The meetings were really fun and constructive," praised game director Eckl.
Pilot project in the Zugspitze district: general idea
What is the pilot project about?
The main aim is to dare to do something new, to receive more derbies and to generate more exciting games, so that something is going on for as many teams as possible, Eckl explained.
For this purpose, the number of groups per division should be increased from the district league downwards, and the number of teams in it should in turn be significantly reduced.
The division should be based on the criteria of previous year's performance, regionality and common home game days for several teams within a club.
“We don't let anyone drive all over the Zugspitze district,” Eckl clarified.
In the groups of the first half of the season, all home and return matches are to take place between the beginning / mid-August and the beginning / mid-November.
Then the groups are divided.
The top teams then take part in a promotion round, the other teams in a relegation round - there is a different system for the C-Class because of the impossibility of relegation.
In this second half of the season, which should run from the end of March to the end of May / beginning of June, all teams will take bonus points with them according to their place in the table.
The general distribution is: first place gets six bonus points at the start of the promotion round, second place gets four and third place gets two;
the fourth in the table takes six points into the relegation round, the fifth four points, the sixth two points, the seventh and eighth one point each.
The second half of the season should also be completed in groups with home and away legs, but with even fewer teams per group.
For all teams in the promotion round it is about promotion and relegation, for everyone in the relegation round about relegation, if necessary also about a relegation.
The number of teams and groups in both halves of the season is determined individually for each division, depending on the number of teams registered.
New game model in the Zugspitze district: district league
With currently 29 teams, there are four groups with seven to eight teams each in the first half of the season, i.e. twelve to 14 games per team.
Places one to three from each group go into the promotion round, places four to seven / eight go into the relegation round.
The bonus points correspond to the general key mentioned above.
The twelve teams in the promotion round are divided into two groups of six - based on performance, i.e. two first, second and third per group from the first half of the season.
The two group winners after ten match days in the promotion round go straight to the district league.
The second two compete against each other in the first relegation round, the winner continues to play at district level.
For the loser, the season is over, just like it was before for all teams in positions three to six of the promotion round.
The 17 teams in the relegation round are divided into two groups of six and one group of five according to their performance.
The three bottom of the table after eight to ten games in the relegation round are relegated directly to the district class.
The three penultimate and the worse third-last from the two groups of six go into the relegation for four district league starting places against four district classists.
For all other teams in the relegation round, the season is over.
New play model in the Zugspitze district: district class
With currently 57 teams, there are eight groups with seven to eight teams each in the first half of the season, i.e. twelve to 14 games per team.
Places one to three from each group go into the promotion round, places four to seven / eight go into the relegation round.
The bonus points correspond to the general key mentioned above.
The 24 teams in the promotion round are divided into four groups of six - based on performance, i.e. two first, second and third per group from the first half of the season.
The four group winners after ten match days in the promotion round go straight to the district league.
The four runners-up compete in the promotion relegation for four district league starting places against four district league clubs.
The season is over for all teams in positions three to six of the promotion round.
The 33 teams in the relegation round are divided into three groups of six and three groups of five according to their performance.
The six bottom of the table after eight to ten games in the relegation round are relegated directly to the A-class.
The six penultimate go into relegation by six district class starting places against six A classists.
For all other teams in the relegation round, the season is over.
New play model in the Zugspitze district: A-Class
With currently 110 teams, there are 14 groups with seven to eight teams each in the first half of the season, i.e. twelve to 14 games per team.
Places one to three from each group go into the promotion round, places four to seven / eight go into the relegation round.
The bonus points correspond to the general key mentioned above.
The 42 teams in the promotion round are divided into seven groups of six - based on performance, i.e. two first, second and third per group from the first half of the season.
The seven group winners and the best runner-up after ten match days in the promotion round go straight to the district class.
The remaining six runners-up compete in the promotion relegation for six district class starting places against six district classists.
The season is over for all teams in positions three to six of the promotion round.
The 68 teams in the relegation round are divided into eight groups of six and four groups of five according to their performance.
The twelve bottom of the table after eight to ten games in the relegation round are relegated directly to the B-class.
For all other teams in the relegation round, the season is over.
New play model in the Zugspitze district: B-Class
With currently 104 teams, there are 13 groups with eight teams each in the first half of the season, i.e. 14 games per team.
Places one to three from each group and the three best fourth place in the table go to the promotion round, the remaining ten fourth place and ranks five to eighth go to the relegation round.
By and large, the bonus points correspond to the general key mentioned above.
Only: The three best fourth-placed finishers take one point into the promotion round.
The 42 teams in the promotion round are divided into seven groups of six - based on performance, i.e. a maximum of two first, second and third from the first half of the season per group.
The seven group winners and the seven runners-up after ten match days in the promotion round will go straight to the A-class.
The season is over for all teams in positions three to six of the promotion round.
All autumn champions from the C-class join the 62 worse performing B-class teams from the first half of the season - probably eight to ten, depending on the number of groups.
The autumn champions each bring two bonus points to the round.
The total of around 70 teams are divided into twelve groups of five to six people according to their performance.
The twelve bottom of the table after eight to ten games in the relegation round are relegated directly to the C-class.
It could also be that a C-class autumn champion would have to go straight down again after a half season, confirmed district chairman Heinz Eckl.
For all other teams in the relegation round, the season is over.
New play model in the Zugspitze district: C-Class
The exact number of groups in the C-Class is not yet known, as experience has shown that the number of entries is difficult to predict.
The BFV currently assumes eight to ten groups, each with a maximum of eight teams.
All autumn champions - that is, group winners in the first half of the season - qualify for the B-Class relegation round (see above for details) and can thus secure a B-Class starting place for the following season.
Every C-Class autumn champion takes two bonus points into the B-Class relegation round.
For the second half of the season, the remaining C-Classists will be divided up into groups of five to six, depending on their performance, and will take the following bonus points with them: the second-placed in the first half of the season will receive six, the third five, the fourth four, the fifth and sixth three each Seventh two points and eighth one counter.
All group winners after eight to ten games in the second half of the season are promoted directly to the B-Class.
Pilot project in the Zugspitze district: vote
The clubs in the Zugspitze district now have until April 19 to vote on the proposal.
It is also about the question of whether the classic relegation with a return leg should be replaced by a play-off system.
This would be played according to the "best of three" principle, so you would need two wins from a maximum of three duels with the same opponent to advance.
In addition, the length of the pilot project - two or three years - is up for grabs.
If at least two thirds of the clubs are in favor of the new game model, it should be introduced for the coming season.
"Let it flourish, exchange ideas," said Eckl on Friday evening.
Pilot project in the Zugspitze district: additional rules
The quotient rule would be integrated directly into the new game model.
So if not all teams played the same number of games during the winter break - for example due to group sizes of different strengths or due to time pressure - the rule (points earned divided by games played) would apply to create rankings.
“Only if necessary”, as Heinz Eckl emphasized.
So that it never happens that not all catch-up games are played by mid-November, the game masters will have a new authorization in the future: on the last four match days of the two halves of the season, they will be allowed to exchange home rights if a team should argue that their own turf cannot be played .
This is how they want to prevent possible manipulation and illegal game cancellations, explained Eckl.
It is also possible to set up games in a neutral place in this context.
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