The second regular meeting of the Committee for Competitive Sports (AfW) in the 2025/2026 offseason took place on Sunday, December 14, 2025. The main focus was on the review of the league meetings of the 2nd Baseball Bundesliga and Softball Bundesliga as well as further planning in the DBV leagues for the 2026 season, the adoption of the federal playing regulations and the review of the DVOs of the state associations, a review of the DBV events in 2025 as well as the first changes to the 2026 event regulations and the awarding of the DBV events for 2026.
DBV leagues 2026:
- The final composition of the DBV leagues for the 2026 season has been approved. Compared to the meeting in October, the Bonn Capitals announced their withdrawal from the Softball Bundesliga.
- The DVO for the 2nd Baseball Bundesliga was passed:
- There were no changes to the content compared to the 2025 season. Rather, the DVO has been editorially adjusted because the German Baseball League (DBL) now has its own DVO.
- The DVO for the Bundesliga Softball has been passed:
- There were only adjustments to the game mode of the play-offs, in which best-of-5 series are now played in the semi-finals and finals, as well as an adjustment to the German Cup, where the qualifying round in the north is no longer due to the league composition.
- When it comes to the licensing criteria for the Bundesliga Softball, the softball Bundesliga clubs have proposed an adjustment to the youth licensing criteria, which is based on an extensive points system. This proposal was accepted by the AfW with minor adjustments. The new licensing criteria applies from the 2026 season.
- The framework schedule for the 2026 season was also approved. Compared to the meeting in October, the DBL dates have been supplemented. There is also a postponement of the date for the Youth Baseball State Cup by one week due to the now fixed date of the U15 Baseball World Cup.
Federal game regulations and DVOs of the state associations:
- The AfW has adopted the 2026 Federal Match Regulations including the DVOs for the DBV leagues and other appendices. The BuSpO 2026 and the overview of changes will be published separately.
- In comparison to the already communicated BuSpO changes from October, the adjustments in the Softball Bundesliga were added and two further changes were added. The restrictions on bats that were already introduced in the U12 DM and the U12 National Cup in the 2025 season now apply to all U12 games in Germany. In addition, an article was added that allows people with DBV accreditation access to all playing fields in the DBV leagues and the regional association games.
- The AfW examined the DVOs of the regional associations and the DBL league association and approved them accordingly, with the exception of two DVOs, which were subject to minor adjustments. He thanks you for submitting it on time.
DBV events 2025/2026:
- The first changes to the 2026 event regulations have been decided:
- At the German Youth Softball Championship, the coach toss was canceled following a walk.
- For the German Junior Softball Championship, since 2025 the participating teams have to prove that they have taken part in a game. There is now a clarification regarding the implementation of league operations in tournament form. A tournament form is explicitly permitted. However, in this case at least four tournaments must be held on four different weekends.
- For the German Baseball Championships (U12, U15, U18), a replacement rule will be introduced that determines the order of potential replacements based on the results of the respective national cup. The first-placed regional association can provide the first potential successor, the second-placed regional association can provide the second place. The aim is to prevent groups with an unequal number of teams from entering the German championships.
- If there are still unequal groups, we will consider working with double elimination in the game mode in the future in order to make the groups equal in terms of the number of games.
- The regulations for the German Championship Coach Pitch U10 will be included. The regulations will also be published separately in January.
- The DBV events 2026 have been awarded:
- DM U10 Coach Pitch BB: Ladenburg Romans
- DM student BB: Guggenberger Legionnaires Regensburg (by drawing lots)
- DM Youth BB: Mainz Athletics (after drawing lots)
- DM Juniors BB: Bonn Capitals
- LP student BB: Cologne Cardinals
- LP Jugend BB: Freising Grizzlies
- LP Juniors BB: Saarlouis Hornets
- DM Youth SB: Karlsruhe Cougars
- DM Junior Women SB: Tübingen Hawks
- LP Jugend SB: Untouchables Paderborn
- LP Junior Women SB: Freising Grizzlies
- Final Four Deutschlandpokal Softball: Cologne Cardinals
- U13 Softball Cup: Freising Grizzlies
The next AfW meeting will take place on February 21, 2026.
