Rule in German football: Sports lawyer: Grace period for 50+1 exceptions over

This puts the special treatment of individual clubs under greater pressure to justify, he said. The Bundesliga receives legal certainty, but no all-clear. “Anyone who expected a victory for investors today will be disappointed. Anyone who expected a carte blanche for the previous exceptions will, of course,” emphasized Lambertz. The discussion now shifts from the existence to the non-discriminatory application of the rule.

Scope for league and factory clubs

After its review, which has been ongoing since 2018, the Federal Cartel Office announced that the 50+1 rule was fundamentally compatible with antitrust law. The prerequisite, however, is that the rule “is applied consistently and without differences – unless there is an objective reason for this”. There are currently exceptions for Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg, with special cases being RB Leipzig and Hannover 96.

Sports law expert Alexander Scheuch from the University of Bonn sees the office’s statement as a “Solomonic solution”. The 50+1 rule receives legal backing, while at the same time the league and the factory clubs have “enough scope for their own solution”. “This is probably also necessary because a complete abolition of the funding exceptions at Leverkusen and Wolfsburg would cause considerable conflict,” he said.