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OPINION, INTERVIEWS & FEATURES
Before 1998, German clubs were making no profit whatsoever and private investment was strictly prohibited “
In 2003, Russian businessman Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea Football Club for £140 million, this enormous sum covering the club value of £60 million as well as Chelsea’s £80 million of debt. Following this, few would have expected him to splash out more than £110 million on his first transfer window, signing 13 players, including Claude Makélélé, Hernán Crespo and Juan Sebastián Verón. The Chelsea takeover was only the beginning for extravagant spending in the world of football. Sheikh Mansour’s arrival at Manchester City saw him spending £1.3 billion on 70 new signings, and with the Saudi takeover of Newcastle United, the question that comes into play is: has football become too political, and if so, what can be done about this? New owners are now rebranding some of the oldest clubs in the world, arguably without care for their past or their history. The energy drink company Red Bull is the leading stakeholder in many clubs, such as Red Bull Salzburg, Red Bull New York and, of course, RB Leipzig, flagrantly rebranding these clubs to advertise their company. Before the takeover, RB Leipzig was a mediocre German team playing in the fifth tier of German football with the name SSV Markranstädt. Now, they are one of the best teams in the world. However, due to their tendency to bend the rules, they are also one of the least well-loved clubs in Germany. This story is not too uncommon: Manchester City’s rise to the top has been a similar tale. The problems caused by such events almost led to the start of a European Super League. However, Germany’s 50 + 1 rule aims to prevent this from happening. Its clubs have a proud history of supporter engagement, unlike most other top-flight European clubs. Before 1998, German clubs were making no profit whatsoever and private investment was strictly prohibited. Now, of course, it is allowed, but it must comply with the
50 +1 rule, which states that a club must keep a majority of its own voting rights. This means that if the club’s members don’t like any rule which the owner has set, they can veto it straight away, ensuring that they are still in charge of their own club. These clubs have a large majority of members, for example, Borussia Dortmund has about 145 thousand members and charges around €50 for membership. However, rebels RB Leipzig, even after the German FA forced them to open up their membership structure in order to get a licence, still only have 17 members proper – the majority of whom are either employees or associates of Red Bull. Because of this, they have attracted the anger of opposition fans for violating Germany’s proud rules, something that no other club has done. While the German approach may provide a partial solution, RB Leipzig’s rise still proves that there are some holes to fill. Investors can still bend and manipulate the rules to suit them. However, this is a good starting block for German football and we can hope that it provides an example that the rest of the footballing world can look up to.
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