The fan alliance Unsere Kurve has once again denounced the lack of involvement of club members ahead of the decision on the entry of investors into German professional soccer.

Due to “a lack of time and short notice”, the “pressure on those voting was artificially increased”, the fans’ group announced shortly before the vote: “Information papers were only sent to the clubs in the last few weeks.” A “sensible, transparent and in-depth discussion” of the issue was therefore “simply impossible”.

The consequence is that “once again, only a few insiders are involved. A critical process in the interests of member-led clubs is made massively more difficult or impossible”, Unsere Kurve continued. The procedure bypassing the members represents “a remarkable break with the unique constitution of German soccer”. Of the few members involved, there was ultimately “no approval for the financing model”.

The fan alliance divided its criticism into three points. Firstly, with regard to the “rather vague” topic of digitalization, a separate DFL streaming platform would “hardly be enough” to consider such risky financing models. Furthermore, when it comes to internationalization, Unsere Kurve “questions the calculation of the revenue increase”. The “rat race” is “neither nationally nor internationally the answer in the interests of soccer”.

Last but not least, “no valid reason can be seen” as to why the risk of involving an investor should be taken. Rather, the alliance considers the approach to be a “fatal error of reasoning. We share the view of some DFL members that other forms of financing need to be discussed and seriously considered.”