Guest fans should get back quickly: The DFL is postponing the ultimate test


Guest fans should get back quickly
The DFL postpones the ordeal

The German Football League has to deal with urgent questions and wanted to do this at its general meeting: The dispute over the so-called 50 + 1 rule, which limits the influence of investors in the clubs, is considered an “ultimate test”. There is anger about the rule, and it will stay that way.

The game of hanging around the 50 + 1 rule in German professional football continues. After an initial factual exchange between the 36 first and second division teams at the extraordinary general meeting, the Presidium of the German Football League will prepare a written statement on the preliminary legal assessment of the 50 + 1 rule by the Federal Cartel Office in the coming months by autumn and send this to the Send authority. The aim is to develop antitrust-compliant solutions that are in the interests of all 36 Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga clubs, announced the DFL. At their meeting in Frankfurt, the association representatives dealt for the first time with the assessment made by the authority at the end of May. According to dpa information, there were no controversial discussions, but a broad consensus on how to proceed. As expected, no resolutions were passed on the sensitive issue.

The Bundeskartellamt had determined that the 50 + 1 rule was in principle compatible with antitrust law, but at the same time criticized the currently applicable exemptions for the group or investor-managed Bundesliga clubs Bayer Leverkusen, VfL Wolfsburg and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

The DFL clubs have to decide whether this calls into question the 50 + 1 rule or whether the club form of the three clubs needs to be reconsidered. The trio is currently not bound by the requirement that the parent club must continue to hold the majority of the votes after its professional department has been outsourced to a corporation.

Both the fans and a large part of the clubs are in favor of maintaining the rule, which was introduced in 1999 and is intended to prevent financially strong entrepreneurs from taking over the majority and thus control of a club. “The 50 + 1 rule is the last bastion that preserves the club members’ democratic co-determination rights and prevents the economic interests of investors alone from deciding the fate of the licensing teams,” said Jörn Brauer, spokesman for the ProFans fan association.

Guest fans should come back quickly

While the outcome is still open in the struggle for 50 + 1, there is further clarity when the spectators return to the stadium. From the third match day of the 2021/22 season, guest fans will be able to return to the arenas of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 This was decided by the 36 clubs.

As long as the audience capacity is still subject to legal restrictions, five percent of the tickets per game should be reserved for guest fans. If the restrictions are completely eliminated, the actually intended quota of ten percent will automatically be returned, said the DFL. Politicians had recently given the green light for the end of the ghost games. For the time being, a capacity utilization of 50 percent is allowed, whereby the maximum number is limited to 25,000. A maximum of 20,000 fans are allowed to watch the games in Bavaria.

There was also consensus on a rule question. As in the previous season, each team can make five substitutions per game. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), which is responsible for the rules, had already given the possibility of such an adjustment of the change quota for the 2021/22 season.

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