Who owns a football club? Is football club a company? For English and Americans, the answer for those questions are obvious: Owner owns a football club, and yes, football club is a company. But Germans have their own answers, and their answers reflect their economics view in general. Unlike English and Americans, Germans believe in cooperation more than they believe in corporation, they believe in democracy more than they believe in single majority shareholder's voice.
For Germans, a football club should be owned by fans, and a football club is definitely more than a company. A company has customers, but a football club has fans. And fans are not customers, because fans can't easily switch their support to football club like they do to companies. They don't change their support just because football club raise ticket price. That's why it's important to keep football club's interests align with its fans interests. That's why Bundesliga have 50+1 rule.
This rule requires a minimum of 51% of the club's ownership to be owned by the clubs - and, by extension, the fans- themselves. They hold a majority of their own voting rights. This means that it is very unlikely that Bundesliga clubs will be acquired by foreign investors like Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United in the English Premier League.
For example, 81% ownership of Bayern Munich is owned by fans. Only 9% of shares owned by investors from Audi and Adidas. President of Bayern Munich is a person chosen by fans to become club president. So any decision he took must be in fans best interests. Uli Hoeness once asked why club wasn't raised ticket price to bring more profit. He answered, "We don't think that fans are cows that can be squeezed. Football is everyone's. That's what distinguishes us from England."
This is certainly a positive side of the 50+1 rule. Fans are involved in determining the future of the club. The players' salary is controlled every month so fans know the expenses made by the club every month.
That's why clubs are quite careful in using money. Therefore, the financial condition of Bundesliga clubs are very healthy. When UEFA launched FInancial Fair Play Regulation, it wasn't aiming at Bundesliga clubs, but at EPL, Serie A, La Liga, and Ligue 1 clubs.
Actually there are four Bundesliga clubs that don't follow this rule. They are Vfb Wolfsburg which is owned by Volkswagen, Bayer Leverkusen which is owned by a chemical company Bayer, RB Leipzig which is owned by Red Bull, and Hoffenheim which is owned by Dietmar Hopp. Exceptions can be made for owner who consistently investing for more than 20 years, in short, a very long term investment.
But capital restriction means limited money. Therefore, Bundesliga clubs often bring in players from lower level leagues. So they can get quality players without having to spend much for transfer fees or attract quality players with moderate salaries.
According to Twentyfour7 Bundesliga clubs spend only 38% of their income to pay salaries. Unlike the Premier League that spend 67% of their income to pay salaries.
With that minimal expenditure, Bundesliga clubs have more funds to upgrade their academy where they train high quality local players such as Andre Schurrle, Toni Kroos, Mesut Ozil, Marc Ter Stegen, Lukas Podolski, etc.
This is what former UEFA President Michel Platini said about this rule.
“While the rest of Europe has boring leagues, half-empty stadia and clubs on the verge of bankruptcy, German football is in remarkable health. Germany is proof that financial health, an equal league, teams that are competitive internationally and a world-class national team are all possible, and it’s because German football has a thought-out concept and the courage to stick to those traditional footballing values and clubs’ local roots with the 50+1 rule.”
It's amazing to see how a financial rule can affect so much. What do you think of this rule?
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