Some celebrate the failed deal, others warn of the consequences. One thing is clear: Even if tennis balls no longer fly in the stadiums at the weekend, not all problems have been solved.
A debacle for the DFL, a victory for the organized fans – but also good for German football? After the big earthquake in the German Football League with the ultimately failed investor entry, the proponents of the deal around the disillusioned Hans-Joachim Watzke are busy cleaning up.
The big question is: Where will the money for the planned modernization projects come from? Because of the expected internal financing, new trouble is looming; the first voices are already warning of an accelerated split between the first and second leagues.
The pictures from the stadiums this weekend will initially look more like reconciliation. The fear of forced game cancellations is over, tennis balls end up in classified ads instead of on the lawn. At the end of the “test of strength”, as sports director Christian Heidel from FSV Mainz 05 described the weeks-long protests, the will of the curve was enforced after negotiations with the last remaining interested party CVC were stopped. “The league is giving in to ultras,” wrote “Bild”. In addition to fans and critics, the DFL executive committee’s decision also produced other winners and some losers.
winner
Organized fans
Wednesday was “a good day for football fans in Germany,” said Thomas Kessen, spokesman for the fan umbrella organization “Our Curve,” to the dpa. With their weeks of protests, the organized fans had caused the project approved at the DFL general meeting to fail. With a unity that is remarkable for the heterogeneous fan landscape. Does this type of protest now occur more often when controversial issues arise? “It could be a blueprint in case decisions are made that undermine the 50+1 rule,” said Kessen. But this is exactly where there is a problem: Was it perhaps even an own goal by the fans in the end? “With regard to fundraising, this could also increase the pressure on 50+1, as clubs probably have increased capital needs,” said managing director Klaus Filbry of Werder Bremen to the “Deichstube”.
teams
This weekend the games should finally take place again without forced interruptions. He would be happy if Saturday’s game against VfL Bochum went off “smoothly,” said Borussia Mönchengladbach coach Gerardo Seoane. Players had recently complained that the interruptions were difficult for the body and mind. Sometimes the dynamics of the game changed completely after a break. This should be over now.
“I would at least be very surprised if someone else did that now,” said Kessen, who is expecting “one or two funny posters.” And what happens to the tennis balls you have already purchased? “I heard that there are currently a lot of these ads on Ebay classifieds,” said Kessen with a smile on the ZDF morning magazine.
Martin Kind
The managing director and majority shareholder of the professional football division of Hannover 96 is an opponent of the 50+1 rule and a supporter of investors joining the DFL. If this failed process were to be a trigger for 50+1 to fall at some point – only then would Child still be a winner from the current development. The hearing aid entrepreneur never received the exemption he had hoped for.
For the moment, however, the 79-year-old is the enemy of numerous fans and, for many observers, also a decisive factor in the end of the investor plan because of his behavior at the DFL general meeting.
According to the 50+1 rule, the parent club Hannover 96 eV should actually have the right to give instructions to the representatives of the spun-off professional company, i.e. child. The eV leadership, however, accuses Kind of having voted for the investor entry in the DFL vote and not against it as ordered. Child himself does not comment on this. If the accusation is true, he would have violated the 50+1 rule at Hannover 96. And that is exactly what his opponents have been accusing him of for a long time and in other areas of the complicated and deeply broken 96 construct. The DFL, the parent club demands, must now keep a closer eye on everything that happens in Hanover than before.
loser
Bundesliga
Around 600 million euros from the deal should be invested in digitalization, internationalization and marketing. As of now, the clubs have to raise the sum themselves – as expected, largely with loans – or refrain from these projects. If Mainz 05 has to hand over eight million euros for internal financing next summer, Heidel recently illustrated, “then it won’t just be tight here, it will be extremely tight.”
But Bochum’s managing director Ilja Kaenzig warned: “Without growth capital there will be no increase in TV money, quite the opposite.” The media rights for four seasons from the 2025/26 season have been advertised, and the auction is scheduled to start in mid-April. The current annual revenue is around 1.1 billion euros per season.
“We have to decide: Do we want to drive on a country road or a motorway?” said economist Henning Zülch to the dpa. “If we want to take the country road, then, with all due respect, we can join in with the quality of the Turkish or Portuguese league.”
According to fan spokesman Kessen, German professional football should not join in the “rat race” for more and more money with all its might. Instead, one must “build a vision of the future” with the member-based special position. There is enough money for it, it’s just “absolutely unequal and unfairly distributed.” Zülch also thinks: “The Bundesliga is far from exhausting its growth potential.”
However, industry leaders such as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund fear for their international competitiveness. “It is important that this decision is not used by supporters to force the division of the leagues,” emphasized managing director Michael Ströll of FC Augsburg. Watzke had already restricted the separation of the leagues as the “ultima ratio”, i.e. the very last resort, in May. Now anyway, because the fan protests would then be even more violent.
Hans Joachim Watzke
With slightly disheveled hair and a worn expression, the DFL supervisory board chairman announced the end of the deal, for which he had been fighting hard behind the scenes for months. No question: it is also a personal defeat for Watzke. And it’s not his first. Since the managing director of Borussia Dortmund took over as chairman of the DFL supervisory board, the plan for investor entry has failed for the second time. According to information from “Bild”, Watzke asked the DFL executive committee the question of trust on Wednesday. All members are said to have spoken out in favor of the 64-year-old.
Marc Lenz/Steffen Merkel
The two DFL managing directors are also faces of the investor debacle. The leadership duo, installed since July 1st, reacted late to the approaching storm – and then could no longer stop it. There was massive criticism of the league leadership, especially from the fan scene, because of poor communication and a lack of transparency. This meant they were unable to allay many fans’ concerns about the lender having a say in crucial issues such as game plans or kick-off times. And this despite the contractually agreed “red lines”.