On the terraces: Victory for fans as Bundesliga deal is scrapped, HSV ultras' long day out in Rostock
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.
The investor deal is dead. Long live the investor deal. The German Football League (DFL) announced on Wednesday afternoon that it was discontinuing its negotiations with a private equity investor for the Bundesliga, marking the second time in ten months that such a deal has fallen through. The decision came after weeks of increasingly disruptive fan protests in stadiums, but also after a public debate in Germany which broke out of the football bubble and onto prime-time television. Slowly but surely, the dominoes began to fall as one of the remaining two investor candidates dropped out, questions were asked regarding the technicalities of the secret ballot back in December, and more and more clubs began to speak out in favour of a confirmatory vote – at the very least. Ultimately, the deal was simply unworkable. Victory for the fans? Spectacularly so. But the war isn't over and the next battle over the future of the 50+1 rule could be just around the corner. Oh, and spare a thought for the HSV fans whose joy may have been dampened somewhat by a long, long day out in Rostock …
This is Matt Ford’s sixth “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.
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