Executive Committee of the DFL resolves interdisciplinary advisory board and working group for financial stability
- Timely special session on the report of the task force “Future of Professional Football”
10 February 2021 – The Executive Committee of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga met this week for the first time to discuss the summary report of the task force “Future of Professional Football”, which was published on 3 February. The first action resolved was to create an interdisciplinary advisory board with outside experts to oversee the ongoing implementation process and a working group to boost the financial stability of professional football. There are also plans to convene a special session of the Executive Committee of the DFL in the near future to focus exclusively on this issue, where further potential steps are expected to be prioritised.
Since October, 37 experts from the fields of sport, society, science, politics and business had previously held open-ended discussions across multiple disciplines on significant issues concerning the future of professional football. The report sets out 17 recommendations and a goal for 2030 in terms of the way forward in the areas of sport, social integration and sustainability in business. The Executive Committee of the DFL would like to thank everyone involved in the task force for their outstanding commitment and their valuable contributions in this unique setting. The task now at hand is to analyse the report in close detail, to break down the recommendations and to outline practical ways forward on this basis.
The Executive Committee of the DFL has no doubts that this process will advance rapidly with a high level of dedication and follow-through in the months ahead. However, given the complexity of many individual aspects, the measures cannot simply be implemented overnight in the middle of the biggest crisis in German post-war history. This will be a gradual process. The steps have to be feasible for every single club – and so they have to take into account the economic and structural variety within the DFL, from the reigning Champions League winner to those coming up from 3. Liga.
There is a consensus within the Executive Committee of the DFL that the interdisciplinary dialogue of many voices from key stakeholders in professional football should continue. The Executive Committee of the DFL plans to press ahead with the formation of an advisory board that will discuss the ongoing implementation of key issues at regular intervals and advise the Executive Committee of the DFL on these very matters. The exact form of this will be decided by the Executive Committee of the DFL shortly.
The Executive Committee of the DFL has also already decided to create a working group to boost the financial stability of professional football. With the Finance Commission on board, its work will focus on areas such as coping with the financial repercussions of the coronavirus crisis and the honing of national licencing and finance criteria in line with the international body of rules. The key foundations for this will be formed by the corresponding recommendations of the task force “Future of Professional Football”.