The decision earlier this month to allow two European league games to be played abroad caused widespread concern.
While the governors of European football, UEFA, said they took this decision “reluctantly” on the basis that they had no legal framework to prevent it, the feeling among most fans, pundits and players was that it would further weaken the fabric of football.
“There has been absolutely universal opposition,” Martin Enderman, head of policy at Football Supporters Europe, which advocates for fans on the continent, told DW.
“We issued a statement, which was signed by 600 fan groups from 29 countries across Europe against it. In addition we had the support of organizations in North America as well as Australia, where the games are to be held.”
What is the situation regarding league matches abroad?
On Tuesday, Spain’s La Liga announced that the planned match between Barcelona and Villarreal in the United States has been cancelled. La Liga chief Javier Tebas said the U-turn had to be made because of the match protests, meaning Spanish football had “lost the opportunity to move forward, present itself on the global stage and consolidate its future.”
As well as fans’ disappointment, players and coaches, including Barcelona’s German coach Hansi Flick, had expressed their opposition to the idea. Now only the Italian Serie A match is left between Como and AC Milan in Perth, Australia in February.
The main motivation for playing games abroad is financial. In his statement about the match in Perth, Como cited the English Premier League’s TV rights package as saying that the league “will continue to dominate the global stage,” adding: “The majority of clubs in Italy are not profitable. It is about ensuring survival and building a future where Serie A remains competitive, respected and globally admired.”
Why is Germany’s Bundesliga different from other leagues?
The Bundesliga has a similar financial mismatch with the Premier League. Only Bayern Munich (sixth) and Borussia Dortmund (12th) feature in Forbes’ list of the world’s 30 richest clubs. There are 12 English teams in the list. But it also has a different club ownership structure than other major European leagues, which gives club members (usually fans) much more say in how the club is run.
In Germany, the 50+1 rule essentially ensures that 50% plus one share of a club’s total shares must be owned by members, meaning that ownership by wealthy individuals or even nation states, as seen in the Premier League, is out of the question. This is one reason why Bayern and Dortmund were against the proposed European Super League, which other European powers supported and then abandoned in 2021.
Endermann said, “The fan movement in Germany is very well organized. The fan groups are strong. They voice their protest against all kinds of stupid ideas. The protection of fans’ rights is really important for German fans.”
He said, “German football officials speaking out against it are not necessarily doing so because they would never want to receive new sources of income, but because they know how much chaos it would cause within their own clubs and how big the protests would be during games and at AGMs.”
What does the Bundesliga itself think?
The Bundesliga is run by the DFL (German Football League) who have publicly come out in opposition to the idea.
Hans-Joachim Watzke, chairman of the DFL supervisory board and former Dortmund CEO, said, “As long as I am responsible for this league, there will be no matches abroad as far as competitive matches are concerned. Full stop.”
Bayern Munich have also come out in opposition to the idea, which is especially significant as these are the two German clubs with any kind of significant global following. However, with regard to the preseason curtain-raiser Supercup between the league and German Cup winners, their CEO Jan-Christian Driessen left the door a little more open.
“I don’t think much about it [playing league games abroad]On the other hand, I think it is a good idea for the 36 clubs in the first and second divisions to introduce German football to the world. But we should never forget where our foundation lies. Therefore, I want our competitive matches to always be played in Germany – even though the Supercup may attract more attention abroad than friendly matches,” Driessen said.
What do German fans make of playing sports abroad?
As Enderman said, fan resistance everywhere has been fierce. And this is especially true in Germany, where fan engagement is strong. Our Curve, an organization that represents fan groups of various German clubs, told DW that given the DFL’s position, it does not think there is a need for protests yet. But the group also made clear its opposition to the idea of the Games overseas.
“Moving league matches abroad would be another step towards separating professional football from its grassroots,” said Joost Peter, the organization’s president.
“When clubs are deprived of home matches, they lose not only sporting fairness, but also essential stadiums and fan culture: co-determination, fan choreography, accessibility and social participation are weakened as a result. Football is thus transformed from a sociocultural asset into a random global event product.”
Could things change in the future?
The cancellation of the Spanish game puts the whole concept in doubt at the moment. But football is increasingly chasing money, Endermann said, and even Germany is not completely immune to this.
“Bad ideas spread fast. If these plans work – and that’s a big deal – and it actually generates a lot of money, then German clubs, as they have done in other ways in the past, will probably pursue it too, arguing, ‘We have to keep up with the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A to be competitive in Europe.’ All things that have been said in the past while pursuing such ideas.”
There are three months to go before the Games in Perth and it seems the whole idea is in jeopardy. But with powerful figures like La Liga boss Tebas in favor of it and UEFA apparently unable to stop it, the prospect of this notion disappearing forever seems fanciful.
Edited by: Chuck Penfold