The 50+1 Rule: A vaccine for a Super League

    Ordinarily, on a day where Jose Mourinho was relieved of his duties and two of England’s larger clubs (Leeds and Liverpool) faced off on Monday Night Football, Sky Sports News would struggle for airtime to bat around such enthralling stories. This past Monday, however, was one of the more extraordinary days in football history. Mourinho’s sacking from a third Premier League side barely trended on Twitter, whilst the hour-long build-up to the Leeds and Liverpool clash scarcely anticipated what was to come in the ensuing 90 minutes. A bigger story had been brewing over the previous 24 hours. As Arsenal salvaged a dramatic equaliser on Sunday afternoon against relegation battling Fulham at home, an astonishing announcement regarding some of the world’s biggest clubs filtered across social media. The so-called ‘top six’ in the English Premier League revealed their intent to break away from UEFA’s current club competitions and to join a newly founded ‘European Super League’, alongside six other members based in Spain and Italy. A further three clubs were to be introduced as fixed members of the league with five remaining spots to be claimed via domestic qualification, resulting in a twenty-team league with no relegation on offer. By breaking away from the current Champions League and Europa League systems, the clubs competing in the ‘Super League’ would not be obligated to share revenue with their respected leagues. In other words, the rich get richer. Smaller clubs would quickly rot as a result of corporate greed. Although the short lived ‘Super League’ disintegrated within a matter of days following a resounding retaliation from football supporters around the world, the game we know, and love is still becoming a past time for billionaires with money to burn. So many owners across the continent are oblivious to the tradition and culture of the side’s they supposedly run. There wasn’t a shred of consideration for the repercussions a breakaway league would have created for lesser sides. Our game has been infected by selfish owners with no intentions in mind but how they might profit. Thankfully, we do have a vaccine for those plaguing football, the 50+1 rule.

            Since 1998, German football has enforced the 50+1 rule. This law states that the majority ownership of clubs, 50 shares plus 1, must remain in the hand of its members (the supporters). The 50+1 rule shields Bundesliga sides from the influence of external investors. Meaning mid-table sides, as Manchester City were frequently in England before their 2008 takeover, cannot buy their way to glory but instead must rely on fortuitous events on the pitch. Prior to October 1998 clubs in Germany were strictly non-profit. Following the decision to implement the 50+1 rule, however, sides began to open as public and private limited companies. By retaining a majority ownership, supporter’s voices are heard, and their club cannot be dictated by foreign investors looking to make a quick buck. Fan ownership can be partially credited to German football’s affordable ticket prices, as the club’s loyal supporters living in the real world understand what fee can be considered reasonable for a matchday ticket. Last season, 2^nd placed Borussia Dortmund’s South Stand season tickets were priced at €219, averaging at a little under €13 per game. England’s domestic runners-up, Manchester City, charged £30 for their cheapest single-match ticket, more than double that of Borussia Dortmund. Not to mention that many clubs within the German domestic game have deals with the Deutsche-Bahn (the German rail company) which offer those with matchday tickets free travel to stations near the ground. Neither of Germany’s top clubs, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, agreed to join in the money-making Super League, a decision that should surprise nobody.

            The DFB’s rule has been criticised by various members, most notably Hannover 96 President Martin Kind in 2009. Kind protested the law prompting a vote amongst Bundesliga and Bundesliga.2 clubs. In a landslide, 32 of 36 sides voted in favour of preserving the rule. Kind, and the others opposed to the law, found that the lack of outside investors has halted German clubs, obviously aside from Bayern Munich, from competing with Europe’s elite. With no cash injection on offer, few Bundesliga sides can keep pace with Bayern’s extravagant expenditure. Whilst an acceptance of outside investors might ramp up the competitiveness of the league, the overwhelming majority found that dignity was worth more than any cash sum. British football fans will remember the uproar caused by Vincent Tan in 2012, when the Malaysian billionaire became a majority shareholder of Cardiff City and after over one hundred years clad in blue, changed the side’s club colours to red, believed to be more successful and luckier in his native Malaysia. Tan entered Cardiff City and literally changed their identity, exactly the type of outside influence the 50+1 rule was created to prevent in Germany. A similar incident occurred the following year in East Riding of Yorkshire. Owner Assem Allam revealed he planned on changing Hull City AFC’s name, which they’d held since 1904, to Hull City Tigers. Hull’s supporters protested the notion, proudly chanting ‘City till we die’ at following fixtures. When asked for his thoughts on the protests, Allam stated ‘They can die as soon as they want’. Needless to say, Allam is not a popular figure around the city and has attempted to sell the now League One side for several years. Such instances could never be replicated in Germany where the 50+1 rule protects the proud culture of footballing sides.

            Although the 50+1 rule is generally regarded as a successful model in the German game there are a few high-profile exceptions to the law. Exemptions have been granted to ‘cases where a person or company has substantially funded a club for a continuous period of 20-years’. Such cases include Bayer Leverkusen, owned by the pharmaceutical company Bayer, Wolfsburg, run by German automobile manufacturers Volkswagen, and more recently in controversial fashion TSG Hoffenheim, 96% owned by Dietmar Hopp, co-founder of software corporation SAP. Undoubtedly the greatest backlash to a side’s questionable approach of the rule was born out of RB Leipzig’s rapid rise to German footballs topflight. Leipzig’s journey began in 2009 after purchasing the Oberliga (German 5^th tier) playing rights from Saxony based club SSV Markranstädt. In a successful bid to bend the rules of outside ownership, the newly formed club adopted the name RasenBallSport Leipzig (literally meaning ‘Lawn Ball Sports’). This allowed them to sidestep the law condemning corporate involvement but retain the RB initials, a glaringly obvious nod to the Red Bull corporation funding the entire operation. Leipzig’s seven founding members were all employees/agents of the Austrian energy drink company, a trend which has followed the club during their rise to prominence. Leipzig technically adhere to the 50+1 rule, with the paying members seizing majority ownership, however, membership fees at Leipzig are significantly higher than the average Bundesliga side, at roughly €1000 per year. Membership for RB Leipzig is over ten times that of Dortmund, where one can become a member for as little as €62 per annum. Leipzig’s 750 official members are by far the least in Germany’s topflight, with Hoffenheim nearest at just over 10,000.

             Yesterday signalled victory for football supporters across the world. Our beautiful game was under threat from a dozen egocentric owners, those of whom will never be forgiven. However, we are not yet safe. Football must thin out the oligarchs and tycoons who have infiltrated our game in a bid to line their own pockets. Football was built by the poor and is being exploited by the wealthy. Critics of the 50+1 rule point to Bayern Munich, suggesting that the restriction on ownerships has led to a monopoly in German football, and whilst many within the country grow tired of the Bavarian’s dominance, nobody can ridicule their integrity. In 2004, Bayern Munich set aside their rivalry with Borussia Dortmund and bailed out their Bundesliga counterparts with a €2million loan. Bayern realised that football is nothing without competition, and whilst Europe’s elite recently devised a plan to abort UEFA commitments, the German champions stood in solidarity with their closest competitors, stating their objection to the concept. The 50+1 rule was created with the supporter’s best interest in mind and over the last twelve months we’ve seen clearer than ever before that football is nothing with the fans.