Designed with keeping the leagues more competitive in mind, clubs now have a new route to promotion ; indeed, others may give themselves a reprieve from relegation via the survival playoffs.

Here's a (potentially complicated) guide to how the playoffs will work in Regional leagues: 1st place in the league is promoted to Regional 1 as champions and do not have to go through the playoff system:

PROMOTION

1st place in the league is promoted to Regional 1 as champions and do not have to go through the playoff system
Teams placed 2nd to 5th in Regional 2 South Central will be entered into the playoffs at the Quarter-Final stage, with the team finishing 2nd playing the team finishing 5th, as well as the team finishing 3rd playing the team finishing 4th
The winners of the two ties will then play each other in the Semi-Final ; the higher seeded team will be given home advantage. The victorious club will then advance to the divisional Playoff Final, which will be against a side following the same path from Regional 2 South West
A further match is then played between the winner of the Regional 2 Playoff Final, and the loser of the Regional 1 Survival Playoff (between those finishing 9th and 10th position in the league) in what is to be called the Accession Final.

The winner of this will play in Regional 1 for the 2026/27 season, with the loser supposedly being relegated to Regional 2

RELEGATION/SURVIVAL

The survival process is broadly outlined in the above section ; the difference being that the survival play-off final in Regional 2 South Central is between teams finishing in 10th and 11th position, with the 10th placed team hosting the fixture.

The loser of the tie will be relegated to Counties 1.

The clubs finishing between sixth and ninth position in Regional 2 South Central are the only ones not to go through the playoff process.

If you now understand how all this is going to work…you’re a better man than I Gunga Din!!!