Germany/DFL: clubs reject strategic partnership with an outside investor

The transfer of part of the domestic and international media rights for the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga to an external investor via the creation of a commercial subsidiary, which was supported by the board of the DFL e.V. (the association on which the German league is based) and the supervisory board of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (the commercial structure), was rejected by the clubs during the DFL's extraordinary general meeting on 24/05/2023.

Although a two-thirds majority (24 out of 36 clubs) of the German professional clubs was required to approve the project, only 20 clubs voted in favour, while 11 voted against and five abstained. The vote was held by secret ballot at the request of VfL Bochum (Bundesliga).

The project, which was the result of the "Future Scenarios" working group launched by the DFL on 17/11/2022, initially envisaged the transfer of national and international media rights to a subsidiary called "DFL MediaCo GmbH & Co KGaA". The strategic partner would have acquired 12.5% of the new entity for a period of 20 years, in return for an expected payment of…