Bundesliga – DFL obliges clubs to be more sustainable

The fans are back in the Bundesliga stadiums. It’s good for them, for the teams, for television – it’s not good for the climate. Because hundreds of thousands of fans who drive to the stadium and eat bratwurst there are not climate-friendly.

At the same time, however, it is a beloved hobby – and the business model of the clubs. A dilemma. “It is of course the case that the football clubs are not sustainable per se and also do not have a one hundred percent sustainable core business,” says Neele Rickers, Sustainability Officer at SC Paderborn.

Climate protection not yet in the DNA of the Bundesliga

Like other clubs, the second division club has started to address the issue of sustainability in recent years. Social commitment is in the DNA of almost all clubs. Paying attention to one’s ecological footprint is not the case for many.

However, awareness of the climate crisis is slowly catching on in the Bundesliga – among sponsors, fans and those responsible. In Paderborn, the management around Martin Hornberger made sure that sustainability was strategically anchored as a corporate goal. Now the club measures its CO2 emissions, has a fairly produced fan collection and published its first sustainability report a year ago.

“I think it’s very important that the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 are aware that they also have to face up to social issues,” says Hornberger. “And that also includes the issue of sustainability. And we have the great opportunity to place this topic in a very sustainable way with our reach.”

Clubs must meet sustainability criteria from 2023

That’s why he also supports what the DFL is now planning: namely to anchor sustainability criteria in the annual licensing. The guideline is to be passed at the DFL general meeting, Deutschlandfunk has viewed the draft resolution for ARD-Radio-Recherche-Sport.

From the 2023/24 season, the clubs should work more ecologically, economically and socially sustainable. To do this, they must first meet a total of 39 criteria. Some things sound simple: the clubs, for example, each have to carry out two measures on the topics of fair play and anti-doping.

However, the DFL also demands that the clubs measure their carbon footprint, develop a sustainability strategy and hire sustainability officers.

These new criteria are a good step, says Stefan Wagner, sustainability advisor at TSG Hoffenheim. But: “It is also a fact that we have not become any more sustainable through licensing alone. That’s why it’s important what triggers it. And it triggers the need, as a Bundesliga club, to answer the questions: where do I actually stand in society?”

Hoffenheim are already publishing their CO2 emissions, as are VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund. Many other clubs cannot or do not want to tell how much CO2 they cause when asked.

Laufmann – “There were braking forces”

Anne-Katrin Laufmann therefore finds it important that there is now pressure from the DFL. Werder Bremen’s sustainability officer would have liked even more speed.

“Especially when we talk about climate protection, it doesn’t do it justice. Because I think we really don’t have the time. But: There were braking forces. And it was always important that we work together on this project and make decisions together,” says Laufmann.

“The fact that in such discussions, where a new subject area affects Bundesliga football, you sometimes have very emotional discussions and initially have different opinions, I think that’s a good thing, because then you can talk about these topics much more intensively speaks,” agrees Martin Hornberger.

In a month-long process – for which the DFL receives great praise from the clubs – a minimum of criteria that can be met was found. Despite some uncertainties in some clubs as to whether the specifications can be achieved.

Rettig misses harsh sanctions for violations

The clubs are therefore given a year more time for many measures. From the 2024/25 season onwards, they only have to state specifically how they want to reduce their CO2 emissions, how many fan articles are produced fairly and how much sponsorship income comes from companies that do not work sustainably.

However, if the clubs do not comply with the criteria, they do not have to expect fines or point deductions. Former DFL managing director Andreas Rettig criticizes this.

“I would have preferred a different standard. I remember the introduction of the youth academies in 2006. We used a sharp sword there. We said: If you don’t invest in young talent and don’t meet the criteria, you won’t get a license. That is completely missing here.”

Rettig calls for a rethink from the DFL leadership

Rettig also complains that at the same time there are practices that contradict the idea of ​​sustainability – for example, that the floodlights are sometimes switched on even during daylight games so that the television picture is a little better.

In order to be really sustainable, a complete rethinking would be needed in the Bundesliga – also from the new DFL managing director Donata Hopfen, who did not want to rule out a Supercup in Saudi Arabia in a BILD interview in February.

“Even if I now hear the new DFL management again: No ban on thinking with games in Saudi Arabia – then those are exactly the wrong statements in the question. And I would rather say: It’s no longer about maximizing sales, it’s about thinking about how we can credibly readjust professional football?”

However, there will probably not be any majority-capable answers to this question among the 36 clubs any time soon. The DFL therefore seems to be planning in smaller steps: According to the draft resolution, the catalog of criteria is to be expanded in the coming years. Particularly sustainable clubs could then receive a financial reward.

And for Hoffenheim’s sustainability advisor Stefan Wagner, it’s not the DFL that the clubs have to answer to. “The decisive assessment is then made by society, including the reward or the sanction, depending on how I position myself. And that’s why every club would do well to get on the road immediately. And I also assume that will happen.”