In Hanover, Uli Hoeneß once again explains the football world and how he sees it. It’s about Borussia Dortmund, the DFB and also about the 50 1 rule in German football. It has to fall so that the sport can live. The money from the Middle East must still be prevented. Or not?
When Uli Hoeneß goes on a trip, there are always a few headlines. It was no different this week, in which the honorary president of FC Bayern Munich once again came to the fore and explained the world and how he saw it from Lake Tegernsee with a strong opinion. Because he is only rarely in the limelight, the public can then use a rich pool of new and old wisdom. When the 71-year-old shows up to catch his breath, he has to clear up all the pressing issues in a short space of time, and of course a lot has happened this time too.
The interview by Manuel Neuer that shook FC Bayern, the constant threat to FC Bayern from money from the Gulf states, the unrest at the DFB, the aftermath of the World Cup in Qatar and of course BVB, who not only regained strength on the pitch, with Hans -Joachim Watzke filled the power vacuum in German football with the Borsigplatz DNA. As I said, there is always something to do for Uli Hoeneß, FC Bayern Munich’s rage vacuum cleaner. When the former president takes the floor, football Germany listens and then shakes its head. Either out of recognition, because there is someone who finally speaks the truth, or out of amazement that such a platform is still offered at all.
Uli Hoeneß knows exactly what he is doing with his words, and yet times have changed. It has long been the words of a powerful Bayern boss, but only those of a string puller whose power is dwindling. These are observations that no longer quite fit into the fast-moving world of football. But they are happy to be included, as the “Bild” flash analyzed at the beginning of the week. BVB is only waiting for the Hoeneß volcano to erupt, it was said, and then they could have an even more important say in the fight for the championship.
Although that was of course a daring flash analysis of “Bild”, Hoeneß now delivered the usual solid performance in a talk round of the “Neue Presse” in Hanover. But he preferred to form a group of wagons and fired a few attacks in the direction of Dortmund. They had beaten Chelsea 1-0 during the week and on Thursday became the bottom team in Europe’s top leagues with a 100 percent win rate in 2023. Seven games, seven wins.
Caught up six points on FC Bayern in the league, suddenly admired again in Europe for the abundance of talent and then also Hans-Joachim Watzke in all management positions in German football: DFB vice president, DFL supervisory board chairman, soon in the UEFA Executive and then of course head of the Rudi Völler selection committee after the departure of longtime doer Oliver Bierhoff.
Uli Hoeneß was happy to use this cross to remind BVB of its natural position in German football. It is not at the top, but rather somewhere behind Bayern. “Two years ago, FC Bayern made a new start in terms of personnel with Oliver Kahn and Herbert Hainer. Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in particular was well represented in the international committees beforehand,” explained the 71-year-old in Hanover and then went into more detail about what was happening is: “That’s why Watzke now has a small lead. But then, as always in life, Dortmund is second again. Because FC Bayern’s influence on German football in the DFL and DFB areas isn’t enough for me. It can’t be that the most important one German club because there is so little represented.”
All of this has nothing to do with Watzke, but rather with FC Bayern in transition and the Bayern staff who are still to be restrained. But that will change and then the tide could turn again soon. For example, in the question of whether the 50 1 rule will be retained in German football or not. The 50 1 rule, which is binding for all professional clubs, states that after the spin-off of its professional department into a corporation, the parent club must continue to hold the majority of the voting shares. It is intended to limit the influence of investors in German professional football.
The DFL had recently positioned itself clearly and is even considering a “temporary minority stake” by a financial investor through the partial sale of media rights. Seven interested companies should help the DFL to raise several billions and thus offer the clubs tied to 50 1 an opportunity for “investments in sustainable growth” for further development.
Hoeneß, on the other hand, is hoping for the end of 50-1 to give German clubs access to new sources of money. “We at Bayern Munich would be totally in favor of the 501 rule falling because we are totally falling behind internationally. In England, every first division or second division club is linked to a big company, a country, an oligarch or whatever “, he said in Hanover. “That’s why they are quite far ahead of us internationally. I’m in favor of each club making its own decisions. That has nothing to do with Bayern Munich. It’s about giving the other clubs the opportunity to be competitive with Bayern Munich. “
Although FC Bayern has so far credibly opposed giving up control of their own club, Hoeneß still sees the danger that the big titles in Europe will no longer go through FC Bayern in the future.
Qatar’s interest in Manchester United or Saudi Arabia’s interest in Liverpool show the way to a “game without borders”, one that must be avoided at all costs. “It will be the task of the next few years to find ways and means to keep the ever-increasing flood of money from the Middle East under control.”
Hoeneß has repeatedly emphasized in the past that a small flood of money from the Middle East is largely unproblematic when criticism of Bavaria’s sleeve sponsor Qatar Airways arose. And whether other clubs don’t let themselves be bought up by entire states doesn’t seem to matter to him anyway. First the money and then we’ll see. But of course, with Uli Hoeneß it’s usually just about producing new headlines and steering the debate in one direction. He did it again this week.
