Bundesliga otherwise soon suspended?
Rummenigge demands more freedom for investors
01/30/2022, 4:30 p.m
When it comes to investors’ money, there’s no room for emotions, says Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Instead, the former head of FC Bayern wants a serious discussion about easing the restrictions on external financiers in German professional football. Especially since there are exceptions.
Former Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has reiterated his negative stance on the 50+1 rule in German football. “From my personal point of view, clubs should not be forbidden to open up to new investment models,” wrote Rummenigge in a guest article for “Bild am Sonntag”. In particular, the “somewhat battered traditional clubs, some of which now play in the second and third leagues, would have the opportunity to regain sporting importance”.
The core of the 50+1 rule is that the parent clubs must always have the majority of the votes. This is intended to prevent excessive influence from external donors. Critics counter that investors are no guarantee of success, as shown by the recent history of KFC Uerdingen, which has slipped into insignificance in sport and is in insolvency proceedings. Dealing with the rule has been a point of contention for years.
“If we want to remain a top location in European competition, I think a serious and less emotional discussion about the 50+1 rule is absolutely necessary,” said Rummenigge, who has since been replaced by Oliver Kahn as CEO of the German record champions. “We at FC Bayern have always been of the opinion that every club should decide for itself whether and to what extent it wants to be open to sponsors. We should at least be able to debate the possibility of making the Bundesliga more attractive and exciting.”
Cartel Office confirms and criticizes the regulation
He understands that “in the traditional football country of Germany, this is a difficult topic and that FC St. Pauli, for example, would probably never consider such an opening”. But there are “de facto” with Bayer Leverkusen, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and VfL Wolfsburg “three clubs that are allowed to circumvent the 50+1 rule through an exception regulation of the DFL and the DFB criticized by the cartel office”.
The Cartel Office had classified the 50+1 rule as harmless in principle last year, but criticized the three exceptional cases. The three clubs are exempt from the rule because they have been significantly supported by corporations or an investor for more than 20 years. The German Football League had always defended this exceptional rule.