Cartel office penetrates the reform of the 50+1 rule-what does that mean for DFL?

Cartel office penetrates the reform of the 50+1 rule-what does that mean for DFL?

Erlangen, Deutschland - The discussion about 50+1 rule in German football is currently taking a trip: The Federal Cartel Office calls for noticeable improvements from the German Football League (DFL). Affected clubs such as Bayer Leverkusen, VfL Wolfsburg, RB Leipzig and Hannover 96 are now the focus of this discussion. Andreas Mundt, President of the Bundeskartellamt, emphasizes that the regulations that have previously been considered inventory protection for these clubs must be revised. The entire procedure has been going on for seven years and now seems to come to an end.

A central point of the discussion is the 50+1 rule originally introduced in 1998, which prohibits investors to adopt the majority of the associations. Exceptions currently only exist for Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg. However, according to the current case law of the European Court of Justice, permanent existing protection is no longer hollow for these two clubs. Bayer Leverkusen, closely connected to the chemical giants Bayer, and Wolfsburg, which is inseparably interwoven with Volkswagen, now criticize the assessment of the cartel office and described them as "not convincing".

fans and membership in focus

Another central point that Mundt leads is open access to membership for all clubs. This should ensure that the fans' participation is guaranteed. RB Leipzig is currently an example of this discussion: the club only has 23 members entitled to vote, and membership is regulated by the association itself. Here of course the question arises whether this is really in the spirit of football.

at Hannover 96, meanwhile bubbles somewhere else: the club is dominated by internal power struggles between the club and the capital side, especially because of the controversial president Martin Kind. Such conflicts are not uncommon and also throw a crooked light on the overall situation in German professional football.

The DFL is now facing the task of obtaining position in the next few months before the Federal Cartel Office finalizes recommendations. This could be decisive for the future of many clubs and influence the competitive conditions in German football as a whole. In a sport that is constantly changing, it should remain exciting to observe how things develop.

How these regulatory and internal challenges will affect the clubs involved remains to be seen. However, it is clear that playful talents are in demand, but the structures in the background must also be right so that more fairer conditions apply to everyone in Germany's football. Yahoo Nachrichten and [SPIEGEL] (https://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/kartellamt-50-1- Regel-bayer-bayer-wolfsburg-and-rb-jetzt-a-e8af5329-4877-164a9d1a5800) remain regularly over the developments.