The German Soccer League (DFL) said Wednesday it was abandoning a billion-euro investment deal after widespread protests by Bundesliga fans, a U-turn hailed by supporters’ groups as a “success.”
Fans had littered pitches with everything from tennis balls to chocolate coins in opposition to the plan to swap a portion of the league’s future media revenues for an upfront cash injection.
“Given current developments, a successful continuation of the process no longer seems possible,” Hans-Joachim Watzke said in a statement on behalf of the DFL’s board.
Over the last weeks, protests across the top two tiers of German soccer interrupted games, leading to prolonged periods of added time and threats to abandon the matches.
Fan groups, who wield significant influence in the German game, said the investor process lacked transparency and ignored supporters’ wishes.
The protest action was threatening “the integrity of the competition,” said Watzke, who also serves as CEO of Borussia Dortmund.
Under the circumstances, the completion of the deal “cannot be guaranteed,” he said, adding that the decision to drop the investor tie-up was unanimous.
Supporters’ group Unsere Kurve hailed a “major success for all active soccer fans.”
“Comprehensive, but very peaceful and very creative protests were ultimately the key to success,” the group’s spokesman Thomas Kessen told SID, AFP’s sports news subsidiary.
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