Federal Cartel Office: Exceptions to 50+1 for Leverkusen and Wolfsburg "no longer possible"

The Federal Cartel Office has informed the DFL that the 50+1 rule can remain in place, but that the DFL must improve its application. This gives rise to tasks for the DFL that primarily affect Leverkusen and Wolfsburg.

The authority published its conclusions from its review of the 50+1 rule on Monday. It continued to have "no fundamental concerns about the 50+1 rule." However, Federal Cartel Office President Andreas Mundt called for three measures:

• The decisive factor is "that the DFL ensures open access to membership and thus fan participation at all Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 clubs." The office specifically referred to the situation at RB Leipzig and questioned whether the association is "sufficiently open" to new voting members.
• The DFL should also "ensure that the 50+1 rule is also observed in its own voting." This refers to the dispute over the voting behavior of Martin Kind, then managing director of Hannover 96, on the DFL investor deal.
• The most sensitive point: "However, according to the new ruling of the European Court of Justice, it no longer appears possible to provide permanent protection for clubs that have already received a subsidy exemption under the previously proposed conditions." These are currently Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg. "Rather, all clubs must fundamentally enjoy homogeneous competitive conditions. This means that, at least in the long term, it must be ensured that the parent club, which is open to new members, dominates the professional division of all clubs."

"We are now looking very closely at how the 50+1 rule is being implemented," Andreas Mundt, President of the Federal Cartel Office, told Sportschau in December 2024. The consistent application of the rule for all clubs is crucial. The DFL announced in April 2024: "The 50+1 rule is a central and fundamental component of the statutes of the DFL eV and applies to all members and bodies of the league association." The club-like character of the clubs in game operations is "a core essence" of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2. "The DFL Executive Committee will continue to advocate for the protection and continued existence of the 50+1 rule."

What happens next? The Federal Cartel Office announced that it would discontinue the proceedings with the recommendations. An agreement between the DFL and the clubs being warned about structural changes to comply with the requirements is now conceivable. However, lobbying among the DFL clubs to abolish the rule or even legal action against the 50+1 rule is also possible.

A ruling by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) raised new questions in the proceedings before the Federal Cartel Office at the end of 2023. The ECJ had accepted an association rule in Belgian football, provided that it was designed in a transparent, objective, precise, and non-discriminatory manner and enforced accordingly in practice.

The same applies to other association rules, such as the 50+1 rule in German football. Therefore, Germany's highest competition authority has restarted its review process, which had already been concluded.

The Federal Cartel Office also wanted to take a closer look at the contractual situation between investor Martin Kind and the registered association at Hannover 96, and whether the 50+1 rule was still being correctly applied there. In the hotly contested vote in January 2024 on the inclusion of an investor in the DFL's business, the impression remained that Martin Kind, as Managing Director of Hannover 96, voted "yes" against the instructions of the parent club, Hannover 96 e.V. Kind never made public how he voted. The parent club repeatedly criticized Kind for defying instructions. The DFL had previously described the right to issue instructions as "crucial for compliance with the 50+1 rule."

In addition, Rasenballsport Leipzig came into the spotlight of the competition authority for the first time in the reopened review proceedings. At RB Leipzig, it is possible that the 50+1 target will not be met – "due to the structure of the parent club, RasenBallsport Leipzig eV, which is not sufficiently open to new voting members," according to a letter from the competition authorities to the parties involved in the proceedings in 2024. At RB, there are only just over 20 selected voting members who are close to the investor " Red Bull ."

In addition, the structures of the clubs Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg, which are officially exempt from the 50+1 rule, must still be brought into line with the requirements. The DFL and the DFL had already reached an agreement regarding the two clubs.

The origins of the Federal Cartel Office's investigation date back to 2018. At that time, the DFL, under former President Reinhard Rauball and then Managing Director Christian Seifert, asked the Federal Cartel Office to examine whether the rule was compatible with competition law. The Federal Cartel Office presented its findings in 2021: The 50+1 rule is therefore compatible with competition law, but the exceptions to the rule for Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg are not. However, both sides reached a compromise: If their parent companies compensate for losses that are too high, the clubs from Wolfsburg and Leverkusen would have to pay a kind of luxury tax.

The compromise proposal also stipulated the creation of a committee position for club representatives. There would be no further exceptions in the future. This solution would have protected the two clubs' existing rights, and the other clubs would have at least received legal certainty from the Federal Cartel Office. This compromise was also endorsed by the Federal Cartel Office, but was never adopted – because the ECJ ruling would have raised new questions.

• football
• Bundesliga
• 50+1
• DFL
• Federal Cartel Office