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One year after the publication of the summary report by the “Future of Professional Football” task force, the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga has drawn its first conclusions – and is providing information on the way forward. “I was already following the dialogue of the task force, its results and the implementation of the recommendations with great interest before I joined the DFL,” said Donata Hopfen, DFL CEO and Speaker of the DFL Executive Committee. “Some initial major milestones have already been reached – in reference to sustainability and the dialogue between clubs and fans, for example. We will continue to pursue the implementation of these recommendations with intensity to take this unique process into account. A culture of open discussion and anchoring in society is more important than ever, given football’s position as a national passion.”
Between October 2020 and January 2021, the task force invented by the DFL Executive Committee saw 37 experts from the fields of sport, society, science, politics and business hold discussions across multiple disciplines on significant issues concerning the future of professional football. On 3 February 2021, the summary report was published, with 17 recommendations for the DFL and the clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.
During the implementation phase, the DFL continues to rely on a triad of in-depth analysis, review and subsequent development of its measures. In view of the complexity of many individual aspects, it remains the case that the steps have to be feasible for every single club – and so they have to take into account the economic and structural variety within the DFL, from the UEFA Champions League participants to those coming up from 3. Liga.
In March 2021, the DFL Executive Committee prioritised the steps in the implementation in relation to the 17 recommendations. This week, the DFL published an update on the corresponding issues:
Sustainability
- The task force had recommended a “fundamental commitment to sustainability in German professional football”. The professional clubs took a pioneering step in this respect as early as 14 December 2021. Following a corresponding resolution at the DFL Members Assembly, a clear commitment to sustainability in all of its dimensions – ecological, economic and social – is now included in the preamble to DFL statutes. In addition, the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 have resolved to become the first major professional football leagues in the world to incorporate binding sustainability criteria in their licensing regulations. The specific criteria are currently being drafted and will be finalised together with the clubs as well as external experts in the coming months. The corresponding guidelines will then need to be adopted by the 36 professional clubs.
- Based on that, the DFL will publish an annual sustainability report that provides an overview of measures and key figures in relation to the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2.
- The DFL is going to host a sustainability conference for the first time this year. This is intended to create a platform for the DFL and the clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 to exchange ideas among themselves as well as with experts from politics, business, society, science and the media.
- The recently extended cooperation between the DFL and SPONSORs will also focus on the topic of sustainability in future. With support from the DFL, SPONSORs will present the “Deutscher Sport-Nachhaltigkeitspreis” (German Sports Sustainability Award) this year for the first time as part of the sports business event SPOBIS.
Women in the professional field of football
- The DFL is is assessing strategies for facilitating career opportunities for women in professional football. In collaboration with the external specialist advisers from Odgers Berndtson and Frauen-Karriere-Index (FKI), comprehensive analyses have been carried out in recent months. The results are currently being processed and sorted. The aims here include obtaining a well‑founded overview of the status quo and thereby also of possible impediments to women pursuing professional careers in football, for example.
- Based on these analyses, the DFL will convene an assembly of the responsible HR managers from all 36 clubs for the first time, in order to work out further steps for promoting gender equality with the assistance of external experts.
- For the “Management in Professional Football” certificate programme that is aimed at future managers on the sporting side, the DFL and the DFB began offering two funded places exclusively to female participants last year.
- The DFL itself will establish a job shadowing programme that is aimed explicitly at women. This is intended to provide insights into various areas of work within the DFL Group and support entry into football as a professional field.
Women’s football
- In recent months, a working group on the topic of women’s football has been in intensive dialogue with representatives from the Women’s Bundesliga Committee, the DFB and the DFL all in attendance. The DFL will play an active part – in consultation with and with the agreement of the DFB, which is responsible for women’s football – in supporting the visibility of the women’s top division through communications measures. This was an important topic of focus, highlighted by the representatives of the Women’s Bundesliga Committee and subsequently adopted by the Working Group as a priority. Specific measures are being discussed with the Women’s Football Working Group as well as within the relevant DFL commissions.
- Furthermore, the DFL is supporting the preparation of an analysis of the status of women’s football. The intention is to demonstrate its appeal for stakeholder groups (including fans, clubs and sponsors) based on facts and best practices.
Club-fan dialogue
- For the coming 2022-23 season, the Licensing Regulations of the DFL will include binding requirements regarding the content and structure of club-fan dialogue for the first time. Compulsory prerequisites will be included along with recommended quality requirements. This resolution of the DFL Members Assembly of 14 December 2021 is intended to safeguard the high standard of club-fan dialogue enjoyed at a local level in many places and provide stimuli for further development. The “Future of Professional Football” task force had called for “the existing club-fan dialogue to be further developed and standardised, including by devising quality criteria and for these criteria to be enshrined in the statutes. The new guidelines incorporate recommendations and feedback from fans, fan representatives, socio-educational fan projects, fan initiatives and the “Fan Culture Working Group”, which were obtained in an extensive consultation process. This process was coordinated jointly by the DFL and the “Expert Group for Fan Culture & Sport-related Social Work” (KoFaS), which has been closely monitoring club-fan dialogue since 2015.
- The DFL Fan Affairs department will develop a handbook to explain and specify the contents of the guidelines for the design and execution of club-fan dialogue.
Economic stability / international reforms
- In close collaboration with Bundesliga clubs and representing the position of German professional football as a whole, the DFL has been heavily involved in discussions concerning the reform of club licensing and financial fair play at UEFA.
- In doing so, the DFL is supporting measures to strengthen financial stability and cost rationality as well as strict implementation and sanctions in the event of violations. On the other hand, the DFL firmly rejects any proposals regarding the deregulation or liberalisation of investors’ funds. In this spirit, the DFL will also play an active part in the current, final phase of the discussions concerning UEFA reform.
- Discussions on other topics are also ongoing at an international level – regarding the football calendar, for example. In terms of the position of the national leagues, this is highly relevant, more than ever in the light of international associations’ expansion plans. The national leagues are the lifeblood of professional football – this needs to be recognised and taken into account in all discussions.
- Strategic discussions in relation to further criteria for ensuring economic stability in the national licensing process were initiated at the DFL’s “Finance” commission. These are ongoing and will take the final UEFA reform regarding club licensing and financial fair play into account.
