The DFL has canceled the planned entry of an investor. German football is in a breaking point, said DFL executive committee spokesman Hans-Joachim Watzke. “It couldn’t be sustained any longer.”
Watzke said after the meeting that he had the feeling that the majority of clubs would prefer the DFL to distance itself from the issue. He therefore suggested that the process be terminated. “You don’t need to vote anymore. In any case, this process is over.” When asked by Sportschau, the potential investor CVC said that it would not comment on the failed deal. For the top of the DFL, the end of the planned investor model is a defeat. And there are further problems facing the league association.
Martin Kind’s vocal behavior caused controversy
In the past few weeks there have been many protests by active fans in the stadiums, some of which led to long interruptions in the game. More and more clubs are also demanding that there should be another vote on the possible entry of an investor. However, the outcome of the vote in December was also crucial for the protests.
Martin Kind, Managing Director of Hannover 96
The suspicion remained until the end that the narrowest necessary majority of 24 of the 36 clubs in the vote was also based on a yes from Hanover’s managing director Martin Kind, even though the parent club had demanded a no. This poses a violation of the 50+1 rule, and fans and many clubs feared that the rule would be undermined. The DFL presidium admitted that it should not be overlooked “that this vote lacks broad acceptance due to the events surrounding Hannover 96”. Although the investor deal has now come to an end, the entire process continues to raise questions regarding the 50+1 rule – there is a risk of another test.
Presidium DFL eV Person Club Position Hans-Joachim Watzke Borussia Dortmund Speaker Oliver Leki SC Freiburg 1st deputy Steffen Schneekloth Holstein Kiel 2nd deputy Jan-Christian Dreesen Bayern Munich member Oke Göttlich FC St. Pauli member Axel Hellmann Eintracht Frankfurt member Holger Schwiewagner SpVgg Gr . Fürth member Marc Lenz DFL member Steffen Merkel DFL member
The Federal Cartel Office wants to further examine 50+1 after the Hanover case
A banner in Bremen’s Ostkurve reads “No to investors in the DFL!”.
At the initiative of the DFL, the Federal Cartel Office should examine the 50+1 rule. The end of the process was recently considered a formality after a compromise was found last year. This stipulated that the DFL would impose conditions for Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg, where 50+1 did not apply. In addition, there should be no new exceptions to the rule. But now the office announced in a letter to those involved in the process that it would “familiarize itself with the latest developments regarding the DFL’s application of the 50+1 rule and then discuss how to proceed.” The letter is available to the sports show.
The procedure had dragged on after a request for bias, and several rulings by the European Court of Justice had to be taken into account. Now the situation in Hanover also plays a role in the assessment of the competition authorities. Association rules must be transparent, objective, precise and non-discriminatory, the Federal Cartel Office said upon request. Therefore, this must also be demonstrated in its practical application. “This handling can allow conclusions to be drawn as to whether the DFL is consistently and consistently pursuing the objectives of the rule,” the cartel office continued. The exact form of the rule is now still open.