Hans-Joachim Watzke: Collapse of investor plan is bad for the Bundesliga

Borussia Dortmund CEO and DFL supervisory board chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke believes that the recent collapse of the investor plan is bad for the Bundesliga.

Amid heavy criticism and widespread fan protests, the DFL announced earlier this month that it was abandoning plans to bring in outside investment into the Bundesliga. The decision came just two months after the majority of the 36 clubs in the top two divisions of German football had voted in favor of an investment deal with a private equity partner, which aimed to boost the value of the Bundesliga as a whole.

There was plenty of fan backlash against the deal, with supporters believing that it was against the 50+1 regulation. Fans made their opinions known, and dozens of matches were interrupted by fans throwing tennis balls and more items onto the pitch.

Hans-Joachim Watzke, who was one of the biggest proponents of the DFL's investor plan, has now had his say on the matter. The BVB CEO believes that not all fans were against the plan. And he also feels that the abandonment of the plan is bad for the league.

"Five percent of the fans -- which is not so much, but they're the organised fans -- were against it," Watzke told AFP. "The average fans had no problem with it. Maybe 500 or 800 in the stadium, the organised fans, they had a clear position -- no investor. As the head of the Bundesliga, I always had the feeling that the clear majority of clubs supported it, but in the past weeks that changed."

"You can be sure that there's no problem for Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. It's a problem for the other clubs in the league. The money from the investor would be perfect to help the whole Bundesliga grow. Bayern and Dortmund will make our own way if it's necessary."