Dispute between DFB and DFL

DFL supervisory board chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke has addressed warning words to the German Football Association (DFB) in the dispute over new financial rules.

The partnership between the DFB and the German Football League (DFL) is “permanently damaged” if the dispute ends up before the arbitral tribunal, Watzke said in an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

At the association one should not expect “that the Bundesliga is the fully comprehensive insurance for the mistakes of the DFB in the past,” said Watzke, who is automatically also the DFB vice president through his position at the DFL.

The dispute between the DFB and DFL is about negotiations about a new basic contract, the previous one expires on June 30th. The DFL currently pays around 25 million euros a year to the DFB, among other things, as compensation for the training of professionals. According to SZ information, the association should now demand two to three times the previous amount.

The 36 professional clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 are “ready to pay significantly more,” said Watzke: “Although professional football hasn’t had any growth in income in recent years. On the contrary. After three years of Corona, our scope is limited to the maximum. ” Watzke described the financial situation at the DFB as “dangerous”.

Due to the high demands of the DFB, according to Watzke, “the starting positions are so far apart that I am very, very skeptical that we will find a solution without going to the arbitral tribunal”. Should that happen, relations between the DFL and the DFB are likely to suffer significantly.

“Partnership and arbitration are mutually exclusive! Then this way of partnership, then the attempt to bring this little plant to bloom again is permanently damaged,” said Watzke.