There's a second path, whereby F-Droid registers as an "alternative app store", which is a new category of app created in the fallout of Epic Games v. Google [0]. This is interesting because it applies to all regions and will necessarily need more elevated permissions than the typical REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission used today. No idea what requirements Google will impose on such apps.
Up to what a committee of 3 people (or in the alternate district court judge James Donato) believes this means, assuming the judge approves the proposed modification to the injunction in the first place
> Google may create reasonable requirements for certification as a Registered App
Store, including but not limited to review of the app store by Google’s Android
team and the payment of reasonable fees to cover the operational costs
associated with the review and certification process. Such fees may not be
revenue proportionate.
One appointed by Google, one by Epic, one appointed by the other two. All three will be barred from private communications about any of this with any parties.
Considering this is an anti-trust suit I suspect the judge would be extremely unamused if the committee members found that "must ban NewPipe" was a reasonable requirement.
That sounds reasonable, but I doubt F-Droid can cough up the required US$1 million to pay 12 Google L7 SWEs to spend a month reviewing F-Droid once they get enough free time. I wonder if they'd require F-Droid to comply with PCI-DSS? That seems to be the trendy thing in review and certification processes, and naturally it's important for an "App Store" to have secure payments, isn't it? (Never mind that F-Droid doesn't accept payment except donations via liberapay.)
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games_v._Google