Hop sees the situation in football because of the Corona crisis “remains very tense”. The 46-year-old said this in an interview with the German Football League on “bundesliga.de”.
Even though spectators are currently pouring into the stadiums again in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, she warned: “However, it is already clear that politicians must prepare the country for the pandemic development in autumn and winter. The return of severe restrictions would hit many economic sectors hard and endanger livelihoods, including in professional football.”
Even with the war in Ukraine, it is already clear “that the effects will also affect many areas of our lives and our everyday lives – and thus probably also football”.
growth is stagnating
Hopfen succeeded DFL Managing Director Christian Seifert on January 1st. In her first interim report, she also spoke of a turning point for the industry. “The time of almost self-evident growth seems to be over”said Hopfen, pointing out that the 36 professional clubs lost more than one billion euros in sales in the first two seasons of the pandemic.
uncertain perspective
In addition, there is an uncertain perspective with regard to the international media markets – and: “Internationally, from an economic point of view, there is a new factor: that other European leagues have entered into strategic partnerships in recent months and are generating enormous sums of money as a result.”said hops. This will also have an impact on the transfer market: “The 50+1 rule is also an ongoing issue. With us, the clubs and their members are in charge, not the oligarchs – it should stay that way in the future.”
The 50+1 rule states that after the spin-off of its professional department into a corporation, the parent club must continue to hold the majority of the voting shares. It is intended to limit the influence of investors in German professional football.
Source: dpa