Is Germany's 50+1 rule 50+done?

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Pardon that poor excuse for a title. Germany´s now infamous 50+1 rule has been called into question and debated for the last several years, but shouts for its removal have grown louder over the past few weeks. If you are not familiar already, the rule ensures that 50 percent of each German football club, plus one share, always remains controlled by the members of the club. Many would argue that it has quite successfully helped to maintain one of the strongest supporter cultures in Europe by allowing the supporters of each club to run the club the way that they see fit. This rule was put into place so that a wealthy individual or investment group could not come in, take control of the club, and make the changes that they wanted. This has helped to keep ticket prices down, allowed the fans to have major input into the direction of their club, and, generally speaking, slow the commercialization and sterilization of German football.

Many would like to see the rule removed, while principally focusing on two points. The first is Bayern Munich´s domestic dominance (they´re on pace to cruise to a sixth successive Bundesliga title) and the second is the perception that German clubs are falling behind their European counterparts on the international stage. While Bayern´s dominance may dismay rival supporters and prevent an interesting title race in the Bundesliga, the Bavarian club has become accustomed to winning over the past 50 years -- they’ve won 25 of the last 45 league titles. They inevitably have a down year every three or four years, when one of the other major contenders will step up and collect the Salatschüssel.

It's just that since Klopp's Dortmund side took the title in 2012, they simply haven’t had a down year. There’s no doubt that Bayern are far ahead of their German rivals in terms of international marketing, revenue, and global appeal. But to suggest that the 50+1 rule exacerbates their success would be misleading. Bayern have always won, and the presence of a club like RasenBallsport Leipzig (which translates to LawnBallsport Leipzig, for those interested) and their distance to Bayern shows that foreign investment isn’t necessarily the way to break up the Munich club’s supremacy. As Dortmund’s CEO Hans Joachim Watze has pointed out during the recent 50+1 debate, super-clubs Real Madrid and Barcelona are also supporter-owned: “As long as none of those opposing the rule can tell me why we should abolish the rule when both Real Madrid and Barcelona are the most successful clubs in the world with 50+1, I will keep fighting for the existence of the rule.” Though the make-up of La Liga and the Bundesliga are somewhat different, Watze makes a good point. Massive, foreign investment isn’t the only way to run a successful football club. Profitable academies, smart investments, and a coach and club that understand their strengths can still do well in the Bundesliga.

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There are notable, accepted exceptions to the rule, the most obvious being VfL Wolfsburg and Bayer 04 Leverkusen. The rule stipulates that a person or company that has provided considerable financial backing and support over a 20 year period may own a majority share in the club. This is exactly the kind of mutual takeover that Martin Kind hopes will happen at Bremen. After having financially invested into the club for the better part of 20 years, Kind wants a majority stake. His only problem is that, for now, the members and supporters - those in control at this point - don’t agree with him. And it’s safe to say that Kind’s behavior in the matter has not exactly enamoured him with the supporters. Though unsuccessful at the moment, Kind’s application for a majority stake has re-sparked the debate of the 50+1 rule’s long-term viability for the moment.

Similar to the situation at Wolfsburg and Leverkusen, Hoffenheim sits outside of the 50+1 rule, where Dietmar Hopp stands as the majority owner of the club. In contrast to Bremen, however, the fans decided to give Hopp control of the club. Another important difference is that Bremen are, relatively speaking, a traditionally big club from a large city. They are well-supported. Hoffenheim, on the other hand, were a amateur club lacking history and, more importantly, fans. Couple that with the fact that they play in the middle-of-nowhere and represent a village of just over 3,000 people, and it is easy to see how Hopp’s takeover becomes problematic within German supporter culture.

Using the Leipzig example, the DFB´s inability to enforce the 50+1 rule does not bode well for its survival. Leipzig circumvented the rule by making it near impossible to become a member of the club, thus respecting the literal aspects but not the spirit of the rule. The club has been very open that they do not want more members, especially not those of the ultra variety. They set the membership costs to ridiculous amounts, and the board reserved the right to reject any membership applications. RasenBallsport Leipzig has since tweaked their policies under pressure from the DFL, with memberships still costing as much as 1000 euros annually and, most importantly, leaving paying members without voting rights. East Germany craves a strong representative in the first tier, but surely there must be a better, more fan-focused way. The city of Leipzig has had and still has two lovely clubs, Lokomotive Leipzig and Chemie Leipzig. Both historic, classic football clubs with devoted supporters. Both play in the regional fourth division, the Regionalliga Nordost. Outside of Leipzig, Dynamo Dresden and Union Berlin are solidly in the German second division and have been knocking at the door of promotion over the last couple of seasons.

As Uli Hesse points out in his brilliant work Tor!, German fan culture is based on the community and the supporter´s connection to the club. This relationship and the idea that fans can and should be active in supporting their club is a major factor in their resistance to outside, foreign investment. Clubs serve as community representatives, rather than as a form of entertainment. As Hesse explains, German clubs started out as non-profit, local athletic clubs for the community. Open, honest professionalism didn’t enter German football until the 50’s, astoundingly late in comparison with its peers. The Bundesliga itself wasn’t even established until 1963. Many of these clubs carry names such as Club for Physical Exercise Prussia Mönchengladbach and Ball Game Sports Prussia 09 Dortmund, which reflect what they used to be -- multi-sport, community organizations.

Photo Credit: Football Foyer

Of course, change can be healthy and necessary. But not all change necessarily benefits. German football has seen quite a few attempts to change recently, including the introduction of Monday night matches and VAR, and, of course, talk of removing 50+1. All of these changes the match-going fans see as negative and that will, ultimately, ruin the match-day experience. There are plenty of options for those looking for football leagues with cash being pumped into them. The EPL serves as the obvious example, yet La Liga and Ligue 1 hold 6 of the top 7 most expensive transfers, thanks primarily to PSG and Barcelona. But the Bundesliga doesn’t need to be like those leagues. The Bundesliga’s greatest strength is its fan culture. A fan culture influenced by and based on the 50+1 rule. Any Bundesliga ad that you find will include an image of the Yellow Wall. The fans remain important in Germany football. The fans are what makes German football special. Whether that means tweaking the rule remains to be seen, but it is clear that German supporters are ready to defend their values and their football.