Investor investment worth billions at DFL failed

Dhe deal worth billions fell through: the controversial investor entry into the German Football League (DFL) failed due to massive resistance from its own ranks. At the meeting of the 36 professional clubs on Wednesday in Frankfurt/Main, the two-thirds majority required to start negotiations with potential donors was missed. This was stated by the meeting participants after the end of the meeting.

The skeptics about the club management of 1. FC Köln and FC St. Pauli have thus prevailed. The critics, which also include numerous fan groups, had denounced the possible influence of a donor and the further cementing of the sporting balance of power. Details of the planned agreement that have recently become known suggested exactly that.

The failed plan looked like this: An investor should have acquired 12.5 percent of the shares in a DFL subsidiary, to which all media rights would have been outsourced, over 20 years. The league hoped for proceeds of two billion euros from the sale. At another meeting in early or mid-July, the selected donor should have been awarded the contract.