On the terraces: Blackstone pull out of Bundesliga deal amid more protests on carnival weekend

In a weekly Newsletter, Matt Ford keeps an eye on the action off the pitch in the Bundesliga and German football, explaining what’s going on from fan protests to finances.

“On the terraces” comes a few hours later this week due to the breaking news on Tuesday night that the US private equity firm Blackstone has withdrawn from the bidding process to invest in the German Football League (DFL), citing calls from some club officials for a revote as well as ongoing fan protests. Over the weekend, those protests had escalated again, causing even longer delays and prompting referees in Hamburg and Berlin to implement the German Football Association (DFB)’s three-step emergency plan – of which the third step would be to abandon a match. Meanwhile, before the Blackstone withdrawal, the war of words had continued in the media with statements from both the DFL and fan groups, with the latter rejecting an apparent offer of dialogue. If the whole thing seems like a bit of a circus, that’s also because carnival season reached its climax this weekend, as colourful Jecken from Cologne, Mainz and Leverkusen filled the terraces.

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This is Matt Ford’s fifth “On the terraces” newsletter. The first newsletter for Gegenpressing was made available for all subscribers three weeks ago, so readers can get a good idea of what he’ll be covering in German football this year. If you like what you see, please consider taking out a paid subscription.