Djamal Ziane has tasted championship glory three times as Lokomotive Leipzig's captain, yet the sweet sensation of a league title has been repeatedly spoiled by a bitter reality: his club's triumphs have not guaranteed promotion. For the third time in seven seasons, and for the second consecutive year, Ziane lifted the Regional League Northeast trophy this summer only to discover that his team would face a playoff against Würzburger Kickers rather than automatic promotion. Leipzig's injury-ravaged squad fell 3-1 on aggregate, leaving 2,000 traveling supporters to unfurl a damning protest banner: "Euer System ist krank" – "your system is sick." For Ziane, the experience transcends normal disappointment. "It's the worst thing – injury aside – that you can experience as a footballer," he told BBC Sport. "Catastrophe doesn't cut it. It doesn't make any sense."
Germany's football pyramid contains a structural flaw that creates this injustice. Below the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, and 3. Liga sits the fourth tier, divided into five regional divisions (North, West, Southwest, Northeast, and Bavaria), each crowning a champion. The problem emerges immediately: only four teams are relegated from the 3. Liga annually, leaving one regional champion perpetually stranded. Under the current system, champions from the West and Southwest enjoy automatic promotion, a third spot rotates among the remaining three leagues on a three-year cycle, and the fourth promotion is decided via playoff. Increasingly, the Northeast has borne the brunt of this arrangement. Beyond Lok Leipzig's repeated heartbreak, storied former East German clubs Dynamo Berlin (2022) and Energie Cottbus (2023) have also fallen victim to the system, leaving Hansa Rostock as the region's sole representative in the 3. Liga this season.
The pattern reveals deeper geographical inequities rooted in Germany's ongoing east-west economic disparities. The West and Southwest receive priority because they have more registered men's football teams—a consequence of higher population density and wealth concentration in those regions. Yet the Northeast boasts compelling counterarguments. Regional League Northeast matches averaged 3,125 spectators last season, roughly double attendance figures elsewhere. Lok Leipzig themselves drew 6,352 on average and attracted more than 11,000 to a local derby against Chemie Leipzig. "In that case, you might as well give us the automatic promotion spot because we attract bigger crowds," Ziane argued. Toni Wachsmuth, Lok's 39-year-old chief executive, acknowledged the economic reality: "Unfortunately, you don't get any points for tradition, crowds and history." He pointed out that while western leagues benefit from superior financial foundations, "everyone agrees that the current system is nonsense."
Frustrated by years of exclusion, eastern German clubs launched a comprehensive reform campaign in March 2025 under the rallying cry "Meister müssen aufsteigen!" – champions must go up! Their proposal centers on the "compass model": reducing the fourth tier from five leagues to four, with regional boundaries redrawn annually using artificial intelligence to optimize travel distances and create attractive derbies. Chemnitzer FC chief executive Tommy Haeder, 35, became the campaign's figurehead, emphasizing that a fairer system would strengthen youth development across the east. The initiative garnered support from over 80 clubs nationwide, including Bundesliga side Union Berlin and Borussia Dortmund president Hans-Joachim Watzke, who declared: "Champions must go up and we think the compass model with four regional leagues is the best option." Bournemouth manager Marco Rose, drawing on his playing and coaching history at Lok Leipzig, echoed the sentiment: "You have to give the clubs and their fans the belief that their efforts and sacrifices will be rewarded with promotion."
Momentum appeared unstoppable heading into a crucial vote at the end of June, when clubs were finally positioned to decide the compass model's fate. However, the ballot descended into chaos when regional federations announced last-minute modifications: the four new leagues would shrink to 18 teams instead of 20, and a majority would need to pass in each individual region rather than nationally. While an overall majority (50.9%) still favored the compass model—with overwhelming support in the Northeast (76.3%), West (60.9%), and North (61.5%)—the Southwest voted for an alternative dissolving the Northeast entirely. The Bavarians requested further discussions, leaving reform in limbo. Robert Lempka, chief executive of Regional League Southwest's FSV Frankfurt, expressed skepticism about the revamped proposal, telling Hessischer Rundfunk: "The move from a functioning system to a complex, insecure and economically riskier model without an obvious benefit doesn't make any sense to me."