Reportage: The DFB and Finances

The German national football team will kick off the European Championship year on Saturday, March 23, 2024, with a friendly match against France – starting at 8:15 pm on “Sportstudio live” on ZDF.

Already now in the ZDF Media Library the “Sportstudio Reportage: Million-dollar European Championship – last chance for the DFB?” which shows how much German football and the DFB need a successful European Championship.

The film by ZDF sports reporter Markus Harm sheds light on the “deep red numbers” that also caused the currently much-discussed change of supplier from Adidas to Nike.

funds urgently needed

The high cost factor of the “DFB Academy”, the financial reluctance of the major sponsors and the threat of losing the non-profit status are coming into focus.

Due to the change of supplier from Adidas to Nike from 2027, the DFB has recently come under criticism.

And other long-standing sponsors are also facing changes: ZDF has the contract between the football association and Volkswagen, which expires at the end of the year.

Instead of the 40 million euros for 2023/2024, VW only wants to transfer 18 million euros per season for sponsorship, less than half, according to ZDF information.

Few are looking forward to the European Championship

This is another reason why the European Championship in our own country is an important benchmark. DFB President Bernd Neuendorf has something to say about this in the “Sportstudio Reportage”.

He says: “We have a lot of euphoria in the country, which may not be visible every day through banners and advertising, but people know exactly what is happening and are looking forward to it.”

However, according to a representative survey of 5.000 football fans conducted by ZDF together with the University of Würzburg and the opinion researchers at FanQ, only 53 percent of those surveyed are looking forward to the European Championships at home.

In addition, 48 percent expect the DFB team to be eliminated in the preliminary round. The first preliminary round exit at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the round of 2021 knockout at the 2022 European Championship against England and the renewed preliminary round exit at the XNUMX World Cup in Qatar have left their mark.

Hans-Joachim Watzke, DFL supervisory board chairman and DFB vice president, says in Markus Harm's film: "What we have to do now is to improve our sporting reputation a little. It has already taken a bit of a hit after the last three tournaments."

"Kölner Keller" and DFB Academy

The report “Million-dollar European Championship – last chance for the DFB?” also sheds light on the loss of non-profit status for the years 2014 and 2015, which cost the association 30 million euros.

Is this additional tax burden also looming in subsequent years? The DFB Academy remains a significant cost factor: According to ZDF research, the total costs amounted to 182 million euros instead of 150 million euros.

The approximately 13 million euros in subsidies from FIFA and UEFA have already been deducted from the total. The maintenance costs are 19 million euros per year.

In order to make better use of the new infrastructure, according to ZDF information, the “Kölner Keller”, the referee headquarters for the use of VAR in Bundesliga matches, is to move to the DFB Academy in Frankfurt am Main.

PR Agent / © Photo: elaineitalia, de.depositphotos.com