“That’s surprising”
Bayern boss criticizes the competition
Updated on January 13, 2025 – 11:18 amReading time: 2 minutes
FC Bayern is the biggest flagship of the Bundesliga. A board member of the record champions also wants this to be acknowledged in a current discussion.
Bayern’s CFO Michael Diederich has used clear words to contribute to the discussion about more economic solidarity within German professional football. In an interview with “Kicker” he emphasized that FC Bayern is already making a significant contribution to the financial stability of the league.
“Solidarity must not be a one-way street,” Diederich made it clear. Due to its reach alone, FC Bayern is responsible for around 30 percent of the attention that the Bundesliga receives worldwide. Nevertheless, only 6.5 percent of national TV money flowed to the record champions. The remaining 23.5 percent are already an expression of solidarity.
He made a similar statement about group marketing in sponsorship, in which the proceeds are distributed jointly: “It is surprising that the term solidarity is being used more and more.”
On Thursday, an extraordinary DFL general meeting will discuss the distribution of TV money from the 2025/26 season. Smaller clubs in particular are calling for greater redistribution in favor of financially weaker clubs.
They argue that big clubs like FC Bayern would already benefit disproportionately from income from the Champions League and the introduction of the Club World Cup. The top clubs, on the other hand, see their status in international competition at risk because they are competing with financially strong investor clubs.
The CFO was also skeptical about the idea of distributing national and international media revenue from a common pot in the future. “That would once again be at the expense of those clubs that are the international flagship of the league thanks to the great effort they put in,” said Diederich. When asked about a possible individual foreign marketing of FC Bayern, the CFO held back: “I don’t want to speculate about that.”