Djamal Ziane is a three-time league champion – but he does not always feel like it.
asserted
he → feel → it
This summer, for the second year in a row and for the third time in seven seasons, the Lokomotive Leipzig captain hoisted the trophy into the air having led his team to the title in the Regional League Northeast, the fourth tier of German football.
But the memory is tinged with frustration because, just as in 2025 and 2020, Lokomotive's league title did not lead to promotion.
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title → hoist → promotion
While the other regional champions in the German fourth division were promoted to the nationwide 3. Liga, "Lok" faced a play-off against a representative of the Regional League Bavaria, Wurzburger Kickers.
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Lok → promote → League
Ziane scored, but an injury-ravaged Leipzig lost 3-1 on aggregate.
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Leipzig → score → aggregate
"Euer System ist krank," read a simple protest banner displayed by the 2,000 travelling supporters – "your system is sick".
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system → read → supporters
"It's the worst thing – injury aside – that you can experience as a footballer," Ziane tells BBC Sport.
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Ziane → experience → Sport
"Catastrophe doesn't cut it.
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Catastrophe → cut → it
It doesn't make any sense.
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It → make → sense
If they really wanted to change it, they could do tomorrow.
uncertain
they → want → it
Germany's football pyramid has a bottleneck.
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pyramid → have → bottleneck
Beneath the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga and 3. Liga, the fourth tier is split into five regional divisions (North, West, Southwest, Northeast and Bavaria), each of which produces a league champion.
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which → split → champion
But with only four teams being relegated from the 3. Liga each season, the sums don't add up.
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sums → relegate → Liga
An unsatisfactory solution is currently in place: the champions in the West and Southwest go up automatically while a third automatic promotion spot is rotated among the other three leagues in a three-year cycle.
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spot → go → cycle
The fourth spot is allocated via a play-off between the winners of the remaining two leagues.
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spot → allocate → leagues
One champion always misses out and, increasingly, it's the champion from the Regional League Northeast, covering the territory of the former eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR).
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it → miss → Republic
In addition to Lok Leipzig's triple tragedy, former serial GDR Oberliga winners Dynamo Berlin fell short in 2022 and Energie Cottbus drew the short straw in 2023.
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Cottbus → fall → 2023
The struggles of the regions' football clubs are, to some degree, a result of continuing socio-economic disparities between east and west, which were also reflected in the success of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in recent state elections.
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which → continue → elections
Even in 2026, not one of the 40 leading companies listed on Germany's DAX stock exchange is based in the former east (outside Berlin).
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one → lead → Berlin
Salaries remain lower, unemployment remains higher and the population is older and shrinking as young people move west.
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people → remain → ?
The reason that automatic promotion spots are handed to the champions in the West and Southwest is simply because there are more men's football teams registered in those jurisdictions - because more people live there.
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people → hand → jurisdictions
It is an argument that Ziane is tired of hearing.
"In that case, you might as well give us the automatic promotion spot because we attract bigger crowds," he says.
uncertain
he → tire → crowds
Lok Leipzig themselves had the fourth highest (6,352).
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Leipzig → have → highest
More than 11,000 attended the local derby against city rivals Chemie Leipzig.
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11,000 → attend → Leipzig
"Unfortunately, you don't get any points for tradition, crowds and history," says 39-year-old Lok chief executive Toni Wachsmuth, who does not have access to sponsors with the same financial firepower as his counterparts further west.
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who → get → counterparts
"The [western] leagues do have better economic foundations but everyone agrees that the current system is nonsense.
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system → have → foundations
Everyone needs to compromise but some officials are clearly putting their own interests and positions above the general good of German football.
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officials → need → football
It comes as little surprise, therefore, that the latest push for change has come from the east, with clubs launching a new campaign in March 2025 with the slogan: "Meister mussen aufsteigen!" – champions must go up!
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champions → come → slogan
Their proposal: a reduction from five leagues to four, with the precise geographical borders to be determined anew each season with the help of artificial intelligence, taking into account factors such as distance of travel to away games and attractive derbies.
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borders → determine → games
They call it the compass model.
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They → call → it
Because it can go in all directions.
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it → go → directions
In return, the Regional League Northeast is prepared to compromise by giving up its emotional attachment to the territory of the former East Germany.
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Northeast → prepare → Germany
"I want to get away from this east-west debate," says Tommy Haeder, the 35-year-old chief executive of Chemnitzer FC and figurehead of the reform campaign.
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Haeder → want → campaign
"We've had a change of generation.
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We → have → generation
Many older officials have retired and been replaced by younger people who don't have this nostalgia for the GDR."
Haeder also emphasises the benefits that a fairer promotion system would bring for German football as a whole, arguing that eastern clubs would be better equipped to continue nurturing youth talent.
"
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clubs → retire → talent
It's not in the interest of talent development when young footballers from Chemnitz are torn away from their homes and families at the age of 10 to join academies in Hamburg, Dortmund or Stuttgart," he tells BBC Sport.
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he → tear → Sport
"The compass model is a model in which every region sacrifices a little bit to solve a much bigger problem.
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region → sacrifice → problem
We're organised, we have a plan, we've made suggestions.
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we → organise → suggestions
Now it's up to the federations to act."
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it → act → federations
The campaign has since gained the support of more than 80 clubs across Germany, from east to west and up and down the pyramid.
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campaign → gain → pyramid
Union Berlin, who were playing in the fourth tier as recently as the 2000s, became the first Bundesliga club to officially back the initiative, with club president Dirk Zingler saying: "The current set-up contradicts our understanding of sporting competition."
Borussia Dortmund president – and Bundesliga chairman – Hans-Joachim Watzke added his influential voice, stating: "Champions must go up and we think the compass model with four regional leagues is the best option.
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model → play → leagues
…and 25 more, not listed.
The Aporia
