Germany: A slim majority of clubs (18 out of 34) in favour of maintaining the 50+1 rule

18 of the 34 clubs in the DFL (52.9%) were in favour of maintaining the 50+1 rule after a vote in Frankfurt (GER) on 22/03/2018. Four clubs voted against, nine abstained, and three did not take part in the vote.

The 18 clubs in favour of maintaining the 50+1 rule supported a proposal by FC St. Pauli (2.Bundesliga) on a "process to improve legal certainty and other changes, while maintaining the 50+1 rule."

The board of the German league will now define the next steps of the process, then inform the clubs before making a public announcement, said the DFL on 22/03/2018.

Hannover 96 asked to be exempt from the 50+1 rule but abstained from the vote

• Martin Kind, President of Hannover 96 (Bundesliga) filed a request for exemption from the 50+1 rule in 2017, reformulated in 2018.
• However, Hannover 96 is one of nine clubs that abstained from the vote in Frankfurt on 22/03/2018 (read above). "Our request is based on the maintenance of the 50+1 rule. We did not ask…