Protest for Regional League Reform: Soccer Players Stand Still

The third-division soccer teams Viktoria Köln and Hansa Rostock staged a kind of warning strike to protest the implementation of the regional league reform in German soccer. In Friday night’s 3rd Division match, all 22 players stopped playing for 30 seconds after Rostock kicked off. At the same time, numerous posters were held aloft in the Hansa fan section bearing slogans such as “Waking up isn’t enough.”

For years, there has been discussion about reforming the current five Regionalliga divisions so that, at the end of a season, all fourth-division champions can be promoted to the 3. Liga. The German Football Association (DFB) announced an extraordinary Bundestag meeting for December 18 of this year to adopt a new model.

The so-called “Compass Model” is the preferred option. Under this model, four divisions of 20 teams each would be formed, with the teams grouped geographically each season.

Viktoria Köln and FC Hansa also support this model. Clubs from the Northeast Regional League plan to wear special T-shirts at their games in the future, which will also feature slogans calling for reform (“Champions must be promoted” and “Implement the Compass Model”). This was reported by the “Bild” newspaper.