COVID-19: German football league chief says losses could reach 1.3bn euro.
New German Football League (DFL) chief Donata Hopfen fears growing financial problems at Bundesliga clubs due to ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
“In view of the capacity reductions after the current campaign, losses could reach 1.3 billion euros (1.5 billion dollars) over three seasons,” Hopfen said on Thursday.
“Take the last season before the coronavirus (2018/2019) as a measurement, then the past two seasons have cost German professional football 800 million euros in ticket and catering money alone,” she said.
Hopfen took her post last month to replace long-serving boss Christian Seifert as head of the DFL.
She fears German top clubs will struggle to compete internationally.
“In other European top leagues, the stadiums are well-filled,” she said. “In the Bundesliga in contrast, because of political decisions, there are few to no fans.”
Agreement between federal and state governments means up to 10,000 fans can return to stadiums once current regional coronavirus rules are amended.