Development of the market and competitive environment

Sponsorships

Borussia Dortmund again had two kit sponsors for the 2021/2022 season. Evonik Industries AG is the kit sponsor for all international club competitions, friendlies staged abroad and DFB Cup matches. 1&1 Telecommunication SE is the kit sponsor for Borussia Dortmund’s Bundesliga appearances.

Borussia Dortmund and the SIGNAL IDUNA Group extended their partnership early until 30 June 2031, opening a new chapter in their long shared history that dates back to 1974.

Borussia Dortmund added General Logistics Systems Germany GmbH & Co. OHG (GLS) as a new Champion Partner for the 2021/2022 season. In addition to being Borussia Dortmund’s official logistics partner, GLS is also the club’s sleeve sponsor for international competitions and the DFB Cup.

Borussia Dortmund and Sky Deutschland GmbH entered into a comprehensive and long-term cooperation agreement covering content, sales and marketing for a minimum of four years beginning with the 2021/2022 season.

Borussia Dortmund also extended its partnership with the online sports betting company bwin, which joined on as a Champion Partner in 2017, by a further three seasons until 30 June 2024.

Borussia Dortmund is also extending its partnership with Radeberger Gruppe KG in place since 2008, which means that Brinkhoff’s beer will continue to be served at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK at least until the end of the season in 2028.

Furthermore, Borussia Dortmund is continuing its successful partnership with European IT security company ESET. The cooperation with this Champion Partner, which also acts as Borussia Dortmund’s IT security partner, was extended by two more years until 30 June 2025.

Borussia Dortmund signed a far-reaching partnership agreement with its newest Premium Partner, the sports brand KETTLER, for an initial term of one year.

Borussia Dortmund extended the contract with its Premium Partner REWE Dortmund SE & Co. KG until 30 June 2026.

A two-year extension was also agreed with Eurowings, which has been a Borussia Dortmund Premium Partner since the 2016/2017 season. The stand-out symbol of this partnership is the team Airbus, which flies Borussia Dortmund to its European away matches, as well as the fan Airbus, which was rolled out in May 2022 in a special black and yellow paint scheme that the team’s fans had a hand in designing.

Borussia Dortmund and ATLAS, Europe’s largest safety footwear manufacturer, extended their premium partnership by five years until 30 June 2027.

Borussia Dortmund and Frostkrone Food Group, partners since January 2017, also extended their partnership by a further two years until 30 June 2023. Frostkrone in particular also sponsored Borussia Dortmund’s foray into e-football in October 2020.

Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG (DSW21) will remain a partner of Borussia Dortmund’s until at least the end of the 2023/2024 season.

Since April 2022, Borussia Dortmund has operated “BVBBusinessNetzwerk”, an exclusive network that brings together valuable B2B contacts on a whole new level and further deepens the club’s friendly relationships with sponsors, partners and customers – and between those groups.

Despite the restrictions on spectator numbers imposed in response to the pandemic, Borussia Dortmund met almost all of its contractual service obligations in the hospitality areas during the 2021/2022 season. Given the current infection rates and barring any policy decisions to the contrary, it assumes that it will likewise be able to do so in the 2022/2023 season.

Transfer deals

Six players left Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2021. Jadon Sancho transferred to Manchester United. After loaning Leonardo Balerdi last season, Ligue 1 side Olympique Marseille exercised its buy option to permanently secure the defender’s services. Thomas Delaney now competes in the Champions League with La Liga’s Sevilla FC. Sergio Gómez had spent both the 2019/2020 and 2020/2021 seasons on loan to Spanish side SD Huesca, and Borussia Dortmund has now reached an agreement to transfer him to Belgian championship record-holders RSC Anderlecht on a permanent basis. Jeremy Toljan permanently joined Serie A side U.S. Sassuolo after spending two years on loan with the club. Łukasz Piszczek ended his career after eleven years at BVB.

During the winter transfer window, Borussia Dortmund loaned midfielder Ansgar Knauff to Europa League champions Eintracht Frankfurt until 30 June 2023. Tobias Raschl transferred to Bundesliga rivals Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth.

In March 2022, Borussia Dortmund and goalkeeper Roman Bürki agreed to prematurely terminate their contract, which ran until 30 June 2023, with effect from the end of the current season.

In May 2022, Borussia Dortmund reached an agreement with top-flight English club Manchester City to transfer striker Erling Haaland with effect as at 1 July 2022. Steffen Tigges is another striker leaving Borussia Dortmund. He will join Bundesliga rivals 1. FC Cologne at the start of the coming season. Goalkeeper Marwin Hitz will be plying his trade at Swiss first division side FC Basel. Borussia Dortmund will not be renewing the contracts with Axel Witsel and Dan-Axel Zagadou, which expire on 30 June 2022, and the two players will leave for other teams.

Marin Pongračić and Reinier Jesus Carvalho will also be leaving Borussia Dortmund when their loans end on 30 June 2022. Marcel Schmelzer ended his career after 17 years at the club.

Capital expenditure

Borussia Dortmund signed three new players in the summer of 2021. Dutch international Donyell Malen joined Borussia Dortmund from PSV Eindhoven, signing a contract that runs until 30 June 2026. In addition, the club welcomed goalkeeper Gregor Kobel from Bundesliga rivals VfB Stuttgart, granting the 24-year-old a contract that runs until 30 June 2026. Borussia Dortmund also loaned Marin Pongračić from VfL Wolfsburg until 30 June 2022.

Furthermore, Borussia Dortmund welcomed back Marius Wolf from 1. FC Cologne and Immanuel Pherai from PEC Zwolle following spells on loan.

In February 2022, Borussia Dortmund signed Germany international Niklas Süle from the 2022/2023 season on a four-year free transfer from championship record-holders FC Bayern Munich. In May 2022, Borussia Dortmund announced the signing of Germany international Nico Schlotterbeck from Bundesliga rivals SC Freiburg. The centre back signed a contract that runs from the start of the 2022/2023 season until 30 June 2027. Furthermore, Borussia Dortmund signed striker Karim Adeyemi from Austrian champions RB Salzburg. The Germany international likewise signed a contract until 30 June 2027. Midfielder and Turkey international Salih Özcan transferred to Borussia Dortmund from Bundesliga rivals 1. FC Cologne after signing a contract that runs until 30 June 2026. Borussia Dortmund signed goalkeeper Alexander Meyer from second-division SSV Jahn Regensburg to serve as number two behind Gregor Kobel. The contract runs until 30 June 2024.

TV Marketing

One of the main tasks of the German Football League (DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH) is to allocate media exploitation rights at national and international level for first and second Bundesliga division matches as well as for the Super Cup and relegation/promotion play-offs. DFL e.V. distributes the resulting income to recipients including the clubs of the first and second Bundesliga divisions. The media rights to German professional football are allocated every four years for four seasons at a time. The tendering process for the media rights, which is reviewed by competition regulator the German Federal Cartel Office, is open, transparent and non-discriminatory.

The media rights currently allocated relate to the 2021/2022 to 2024/2025 seasons. The clubs can expect income averaging EUR 1.1 billion for these four seasons, corresponding to EUR 4.4 billion in total. The distribution of the TV marketing income was resolved in December 2020. Greater stability and more solidarity are the objectives. In light of the decline in income from national media rights, the consolidation being seen on international markets and the significant decrease in revenue at the club level during the COVID-19 pandemic, the objective of the distribution system is primarily to ensure stability during this period of uncertainty, while setting the course for the future and promoting solidarity at the same time. This offers Bundesliga clubs a solid planning basis during the current difficult situation. Nevertheless, seasons without interruptions as well as timely payments by partners in line with their contracts are essential for ensuring the amount and timing of the envisaged distribution payouts.

The COVID-19 pandemic is also affecting international TV marketing from UEFA competitions. The pandemic-related losses for clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League amount to EUR 416.5 million in the 2019/2020 season and EUR 57.3 million in the 2020/2021 season. So as to stretch the adverse effects out over a longer period, it was decided that the EUR 416.5 million would be withheld from distributions in equal shares (of EUR 83.4 million) over five seasons from 2019/2020 to 2023/2024 and the EUR 57.3 million in equal shares (of EUR 14.3 million) over four seasons from 2020/2021 to 2023/2024. In specific terms, UEFA will make the deductions before distributing funds to the clubs. Nevertheless, the potential income from UEFA competitions remains extremely lucrative. Borussia Dortmund benefited from the distributions by competing in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League and the knockout round play-offs of the UEFA Europa League this season. It will do the same in the coming season after having again qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.

For the 2024/2025 season, the UEFA Champions League will follow a new format. A total of 36 teams will play eight matches in a single league, signalling a departure from the six matches played under the current format’s 32-team group stage. This will likely further boost the international TV marketing income generated from competing in the UEFA Champions League.

Match operations

Borussia Dortmund could at least welcome back an average of approximately 38,000 spectators to matches at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK over the 2021/2022 season in line with the changing Corona Protection Regulations. On a positive note, the last four Bundesliga home matches could each be played to an almost sell-out crowd – even if the regulatory requirements imposed in response to COVID-19 prevented us from reaching pre-pandemic attendance levels this season.

Given the current infection rates and barring any policy decisions to the contrary, Borussia Dortmund assumes that it will be able to welcome significantly more spectators to SIGNAL IDUNA PARK in the 2022/2023 season than it could this season, which would have a positive effect on ticketing and catering income in comparison with the figures for the past season.

As one financial year draws to a close it is customary for season tickets to go on sale for the next season. Season ticket sales had to be put on hold in the past two years due to the uncertainties surrounding COVID-19, but have now recommenced, and the customary limit of 55,000 season tickets sold was reached.

Other

After an in-depth analysis of the season attended by Marco Rose as well as Hans-Joachim Watzke (Chairman of the Management), Michael Zorc (Sporting Director), Sebastian Kehl (Head of the Professional Squad) and Matthias Sammer (external advisor), Borussia Dortmund decided to part ways with Marco Rose and his assistant coaches early. Edin Terzić, who as caretaker coach led the team to victory in the DFB Cup last year and most recently served as technical director, will coach the professional squad from the coming season on a contract that runs until 30 June 2025. As head coach, Edin Terzić will be joined by Peter Hermann and Sebastian Geppert who will round off the coaching staff.

After 44 years playing for and working at the club, Sporting Director Michael Zorc is leaving Borussia Dortmund effective 30 June 2022. From 1 July 2022 he will be replaced as Sporting Director by Sebastian Kehl, who since the start of the 2018/2019 season has worked as Head of the Professional Squad. His contract runs until 30 June 2025.

U19 coach Mike Tullberg, who won the league title with his team this season, has extended his contract early until 30 June 2026.

On 16 September 2021, Borussia Dortmund, with the consent of the Supervisory Board, resolved to increase its capital by means of a rights issue against cash contributions utilising the existing authorised capital. The share capital was increased by EUR 18,396 thousand from its current level of EUR 92,000 thousand to EUR 110,396 thousand by issuing 18,396,220 new no-par value ordinary bearer shares. The issue price per new share amounted to EUR 4.70. The subscription ratio was set at 5:1. Borussia Dortmund generated gross issue proceeds of EUR 86,462 thousand from the capital increase. Borussia Dortmund used the proceeds from the capital increase to repay its financial liabilities. They will also be used to offset any losses arising due to the impact of any as yet unexpected further COVID-19-related measures or restrictions on the Company’s business activities and liquidity fluctuations during the pandemic, and invest in the professional squad. This capital increase by means of a rights issue was successfully implemented and the resulting cash inflow received in October 2021.

At its meeting on 20 September 2021, the Supervisory elected its Deputy Chairman Christian Kullmann to serve as its new Chairman, effective 25 September 2021. Christin Kullmann replaced Gerd Pieper, left the Supervisory Board of Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA at the end of 24 September 2021. Ulrich Leitermann will take over as the Deputy Chairman. At the virtual Annual General Meeting held on 2 December 2021, Dr Bernhard Pellens, Professor of International Corporate Accounting and Academic Director of the Institute of Management (ifu) at Ruhr University Bochum, was elected to the Supervisory Board with 86% of the vote.

At its meeting on 2 December 2021, the Supervisory Board of Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA resolved to form an Audit Committee and appointed its members. Dr Bernhard Pellens was elected Chairman of the Audit Committee, Mr Ulrich Leitermann as Deputy Chairman of the Audit Committee and Ms Silke Seidel as a member of the Audit Committee.

The girl’s and women’s football programme at Borussia Dortmund successfully kicked off its inaugural 2021/2022 season in the local league. Instead of acquiring the licence of another professional club, we are organically developing and promoting girl’s and women’s football from within our club. The BVB women won every competitive match in their first local league season, making the convincing leap to the county league where they will compete in the coming season.

At the start of September 2021, BVB’s official Twitch channel, which now has more than 70,000 followers, celebrated its one-year anniversary.

In the current financial year, Borussia Dortmund published its fifth Sustainability Report* entitled “United by Borussia! Borussia leads the way!” at https://verantwortung.bvb.de/2019/en/home-en/.

* In accordance with the statutory requirements, the Sustainability Report does not fall under the scope of Deloitte GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft’s audit of the consolidated financial statements.

4th match day / 11.09.2021

Bayer Leverkusen - BVB 3:4

Sporting Highlights