The Ban on Majority Ownership: German Soccer's 50 + 1 Rule under National and International Law
Symposium of the Forum for International Sports Law at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law
16. November 2009, Hamburg - On 30 November 2009 the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law will hold a symposium titled "The Ban on Majority Ownership: German Soccer's 50 + 1 Rule under National and International Law". The main focus of the evening's event will be an analysis of the “50+1” Rule from a perspective of national and European law. The keynote address will be delivered by Prof. Dirk Verse. Thereafter, prominent guests such as Prof. Tobias Kollmann (University of Duisburg-Essen), Peter Peters (Vice-President, DFL), Martin Kind (President, Hannover 96) and Hans-Joachim Watzke (Managing Director, Borussia Dortmund) will offer their opinions and discuss the issue further. The symposium will be led by Prof. Reinhard Zimmermann, Director at the Hamburg Max Planck Institute, and Prof. Ulrich Becker, Director of the Munich Max Planck Institute.
It has long since been recognised that professional sports have become an important economic branch and that many football clubs are run as businesses. However, the extent to which the laws of the market or, conversely, the rules of sport are to be followed remains unclear in those areas where the perspectives collide. Such questions form the background of the discussion regarding majority ownership of football clubs, a topic which once again has surfaced in Germany. At the centre of the debate is Germany’s so-called “50+1 Rule", prohibiting the majority ownership of professional football clubs by investors rather than the clubs themselves.
Majority Ownership for Football Clubs
In 1998 the German Football Association (DFB) allowed professional footbal clubs to spin off their professional football activities into corporate sub-divisions, these corporate entitities then being in a better position to raise the capital resources necessary for running a large sporting association. Pursuant to the "50+1 Rule", however, such a corporate sub-division may only obtain a league license when at least 50 percent of the shareholding interest is held by the parent football club. The
"50+1" Rule aims to prevent majority interests from falling into the hands of external investors with the result that financial interests would predominate in German football. Thus, the rule hopes to insure that fair competition between the clubs is guaranteed.
Critics point out that the rule is contrary EU law. Likewise, the heads of some German football clubs contend that in comparison to other national leagues the Bundesliga lags behind in respect of finances and, consequently, is not competitive at the international level. Demands to abolish the rule to attract further investors have been increasingly articulated since 2007. Hannover 96, for example, recently sought the abrogation of the "50+1 Rule" at the league's general meeting. That request, however, was rejected by a wide margin.
The symposium will analyse the framework and parameters of the “50+1 Rule" from a legal perspective. The keynote address will be delivered by Prof. Dirk Verse. Thereafter, Prof. Tobias Kollmann will consider the topic from an economic perspective. Before a concluding discussion is undertaken, representative stakeholders from clubs and organisations will be given an opportunity to present their viewpoints, speakers comprising Peter Peters, Martin Kind and Hans-Joachim Watzke.
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Background Information:
On the Participants:
Prof. Dirk Verse
Dirk Verse is Professor of Law at the University of Osnabrück.
Prof. Tobias Kollmann
Tobias Kollmann is a Professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Campus Essen, holding a chair in business and economics. In 2006 he founded a "fantasy football league" for German Bundesliga fans.
Peter Peters:
Peter Peters is a journalist and football executive. In 1993 he became the managind director at Schalke 04. Alongside his activities with Schalke he is Deputy Chairman of the DFL's Supervisory Board and Vice-President of the League Association; in this capacity he is also the Vice-President of the German Football Association.
Martin Kind:
Martin Kind has been President of the sports club Hannover 96 since 2003 and one of the most vocal critics of the Bundesliga's "50+1 Rule".
Hans-Joachim Watzke
Hans-Joachim Watzke is the Managing Director of Borussia Dortmund.
Prof. Ulrich Becker:
Ulrich Becker is the Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law in Munich as well as Honorary Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. Ulrich Becker will lead the symposium discussion.
Prof. Reinhard Zimmermann:
Reinhard Zimmermann is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. As director of the hosting Institutions, Prof. Zimmermann will offer some introductory remarks at the start of the evening's events.
About the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law:
The Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law is dedicated to performing foundational research in the areas of comparative, European and international private law, commercial law, business law and procedural law. It accomplishes its mission by methodically analysing foreign legal systems and by comparing them both with German law and with each other. An important goal of the research performed at the Max Planck Institute in Hamburg is to explore the possibilities of legal harmonisation within Europe and worldwide. In view of increasing globalisation this is a task of great academic and practical significance. The Institute library possesses one of the most comprehensive collections of civil law literature to be found in the world.
www.mpipriv.de
About the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law:
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law address the Europeanisation and internationalisation of social law as characterised by the shift in regulatory levels, especially also by the influence of transnational interrelations, as well as by supranational and international provisions governing national law; the adjustment (or change) of social security systems in developed states; and the transformation of social benefit schemes in developing and threshold countries such as India, South Africa and China.
www.mpisoc.de
Forum on International Sports Law
The Forum on International Sports Law establishes an ongoing dialogue and the dissemination of information which focuses on European and international sports law. One time each year, the Forum holds an evening event which is open to all lawyers in practice or engaged in research who are interested in sports law. The idea for such a forum stems from Professor Dr. Ingo von Münch, former professor of public law with the University of Hamburg and former Hamburg Senator and Deputy Mayor. The forum is supported by the counsel at the legal department and by two lawyers from Hamburg, Dr. Georg Engelbrecht and Dr. Mario Krogman, both working in the field of sports law. Additionally participating in the endeavour are the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg as well as the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Social Law in Munich.
www.forumsportrecht.de
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