Germany’s competition watchdog said on Wednesday it has no fundamental objections to the 50+1 rule in German football but has issued guidance to clubs on how to apply it in a legally secure way.
The rule essentially stipulates that investors cannot take a majority stake in clubs, but there are exceptions.
It is intended to stop rich, and often foreign, investors transforming German football in the way the English Premier League has changed while keeping smaller clubs competitive. But the likes of Bayern Munich would like the rule scrapped to boost their own coffers.
A prerequisite for the 50+1 rule is that it be applied consistently and without differences, a statement from the Federal Cartel Office said following a review.
The Bundesliga - the new name for the German Football League (DFL) which runs the top two men's divisions - must also ensure fans have a role and there is open access to membership, according to watchdog president Andreas Mundt.
This could be viewed as a nudge to RB Leipzig - controlled by the Red Bull empire - to open up the club more to members.
“The league and clubs are in constant and good dialogue, and we calmly and as always look ahead constructively to the next steps,” Leipzig said.
Mundt added that there was still “a need for improvement in the intended new regulation of exemptions for the existing sponsor clubs.”
This refers to VfL Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen, who have exceptions given they have long been owned by Volkswagen and pharmaceutical firm Bayer.
Hoffenheim returned to the standard 50+1 structure at the end of 2023 after moves by former patron Dietmar Hopp.
The Bundesliga reacted to the watchdog's report with relief.
“The executive committee’s position is clear and well known: the 50+1 rule is a central component of German football. It's a significant step that the Federal Cartel Office in its final assessment raises no fundamental objections to the rule,” league president Hans-Joachim Watzke said in a statement.
“Now solutions must be found within the league with all 36 clubs of the Bundesliga and second division.”
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