All clubs of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 submit licensing documentation for the 2021-22 season on time

15 March 2021 – All 36 clubs of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 have submitted their documentation for the licensing process in the coming 2021-22 season to the DFL on time. The deadline for submitting the documentation was today at 3:30 p.m. The deadline for applicants from 3. Liga seeking a licence for Bundesliga 2 was 1 March 2021. 13 of the 3. Liga clubs took this opportunity.

After financial criteria were largely left out of the licensing process last year, economic performance will be examined again for the 2021-22 season both before and during the season. A resolution to this effect, which also provides for sanctions in the event of misconduct, was unanimously adopted by the 36 clubs of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 at an Extraordinary DFL Members Assembly on 18 February.

Once it has received the documentation, the DFL then examines a range of infrastructural, legal, staffing, administrative, media-related and sporting criteria with a view to ensuring honest and fair competition. Clubs are expected to be informed of the preliminary decision on the granting of licences in the second half of April.

In examining various criteria, the DFL can impose conditions or stipulations on applicants in accordance with its Licensing Regulations. One condition stipulates that certain requirements must be met by a set date before the new season so that – subject to all other criteria being satisfied – a licence can be issued for the coming season in the first place. Another condition defines the criteria that must be maintained throughout the season once a licence has been issued. Against the backdrop of the ongoing economic uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, financial conditions will be replaced on a one-time basis in the licensing process for the coming 2021-22 season by requirements that must be fulfilled by 15 September 2021.