DFL for Equity

In autumn 2018, the DFL initiated the next stage of its corporate development by participating in start-ups and SMEs. Since 2006, the DFL has been working on serving the entire media value chain relating to German professional football itself – from producing the base signal for media partners through to recording and preparing match data and marketing the broadcasting rights. The “DFL for Equity” investment approach represents the logical continuation of this strategy. The DFL plans to use it to become the first football league to establish a portfolio of investments in innovative and promising companies from the media, technology and sports industries. It will mainly acquire interests in companies via intangible assets, but also by cooperating with additional partners.

At the same time, the DFL made its first investment in the “DFL for Equity” programme with its participation in the Israeli start-up Track160. Track160 is developing a system based on artificial intelligence and deep learning that will capture the motions of the players and the trajectory of the ball in 3D. A cooperation with Athletia was agreed in mid-2019 as part of “DFL for Equity”. DFL and the Cologne-based company formed the joint venture ryghts to pursue piracy violations in the areas of social media, web and IPTV. The DFL continued its investment strategy in early 2020, acquiring shares in the Israeli mobile app start-up MOVEZ. The company is majority-owned by AGT International, a world leader in the fields of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.