Emmanuel Thomas I Wednesday, May 24, 2023
MUNICH – The Bundesliga and second division clubs have rejected the entry of an investor in the German football league (DFL).
A motion to this effect didn’t receive the required two-thirds majority among the 36 clubs at an extraordinary general meeting on Wednesday, participants reported after the session.
There were reportedly 11 votes against the entry of investors and five abstentions.
The result is a massive defeat for the DFL leadership under head of the supervisory board Hans-Joachim Watzke and interim managing directors Axel Hellmann and Oliver Leki, who had campaigned for broad approval in the run-up to the meeting.
The DFL was looking into selling parts of its shares to investors. As league rules mean no club can have an investor owning more than 50% of shares, a way around this, and to make German football more competitive, is to seek investment into the top two divisions as a whole.
Bayer Leverkusen and Volkswagen-backed Wolfsburg are among the exceptions of the rule known as 50+1.
Of the fresh capital of around €2 billion ($2.16 billion), 85% would to flow into earmarked investments in future fields as well as strengthening the stability of the DFL.
The 36 clubs from the Bundesliga and second division would receive only 15% of the sum for free use.
