Football new million dollar deal
DFB and VW agree on contract extension
As of: 09:56 a.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Nagelsmann nominates Tah – “So there’s always something being discussed”
After Nico Schlotterbeck, Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen has now been nominated for the European Championship squad. The DFB wants to announce more names every day until the squad is finally announced on Thursday. Christian Beilfuss from the sports department says: “This is a new approach.”
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Shortly before the European Championships in Germany, there is another economic ray of hope for the cash-strapped DFB. The contract with general sponsor VW is being extended. The association can put the money to good use. But he has to accept compromises, the sporting crisis is taking hold.
According to information from the German Press Agency, the automobile company VW remains the general sponsor of the German Football Association (DFB). The contract, which expires this year, will therefore be extended; the term and conditions will be announced at a meeting on Wednesday evening at the company’s branch in Berlin. VW and the DFB have not yet wanted to officially confirm the agreement.
Recently, details of the new agreement were apparently still being negotiated. According to a report by the online portal Sportbuzzer, the new VW contract will run for four years and bring the DFB around 20 to 22 million euros annually.
For the DFB, the continuation of the collaboration with the important donor shortly before the European Championships this summer in Germany (June 14th to July 14th) is another economic success. In March it was announced that long-term supplier Adidas would be switching to Nike from 2027. Although this had caused criticism even in the highest government circles, it is said to have brought the financially struggling DFB a high double-digit million increase in revenue. The new contract with the US sports giant runs from January 1, 2027. Nike is to pay 100 million euros per year, the contract ends on December 31, 2034.
Deductions due to the national team’s sporting crisis
VW replaced Mercedes-Benz as general sponsor in 2019. The contract had already been concluded in 2017, before the start of the sporting crisis of the national soccer team with the early World Cup failures in 2018 and 2022 as well as the disappointment at the European Championships in 2021. Neither side gave any information about the conditions at the time. According to unconfirmed media reports, between 25 and 30 million euros were transferred per year; SPORT BILD reported 28 million euros. During the sporting crisis, a contract extension – possibly under different conditions – had been negotiated for a long time.
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However, with the new VW deal, the DFB leadership around President Bernd Neuendorf is continuing the recent positive economic news. In addition to Nike, the association also entered into collaborations with the social media platform Tiktok and the financial service provider Klarna.
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Money that is urgently needed. Because the DFB is financially struggling. The reasons: the expensive campus in Frankfurt (200 million euros in construction costs, 18 million in annual operating costs), the ineffectiveness of the national team with an annual budget deficit of 19.5 million euros. There is also a dispute with the tax office. For 2006, 2014 and 2015, the DFB was deprived of its tax-advantaged non-profit status.
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In the sporting area, national coach Julian Nagelsmann and sports director Rudi Völler were retained until the 2026 World Cup, as hoped. Nagelsmann will then officially present his already known European Championship squad on Thursday in the same VW location in the heart of the capital.
At the meeting on Wednesday with the VW leadership around CEO Oliver Blume, the DFB will be represented by Völler and managing director Andreas Rettig. President Neuendorf is then already on his way to the FIFA Congress in Thailand. In Bangkok, the DFB is hoping to win the 2027 Women’s World Cup with Belgium and the Netherlands. The favorite for the host role is their competitor Brazil.