The clubs are sending out a clear signal on the subject of sustainability. As the first big professional football leagues, the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 are including sustainability criteria into their licensing regulations on obligatory basis next season. In addition, the commitment to seeking to act in an economically prudent, ecological and socially sustainable manner is being incorporated in the DFL e.V. constitution.
The specific content will be finalised in the coming months and will be based on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations, the assessment of external experts, cooperation with the DFL working party on sustainability as well as the club working party on responsibility.
Implementation will initially start with a pilot stage in the 2022/23 season where the clubs will receive an overview of the relevant status quo as well as their potential. That will be followed by a transition period where necessary subsequent developments can be implemented. 2023/24 will see the implementation with the appropriate requirements and sanctions in the event of non-fulfilment of criteria. At the same time, the economic and structural conditions of each individual club are to be taken into account.
In addition to sustainability, further aspects of the licensing regulations have been set. That includes the parameters for the licensing procedure for the coming season. The only difference from last season is that affected clubs can again be subject to capital and/or planning quality constraints. Capital constraints will be applied according to existing financial constraints in a modified form due to the pandemic: Negative equity must not immediately be improved but it must not allow to become significantly worse.
Furthermore, annual emergency training for medical personnel in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 will be obligatory in the future. The content of the courses will include for example life-saving measures in the event of cardiac arrest including the use of a defibrillator, the identification and treatment of acute head injuries such as concussion such as emergency treatment of spinal injuries.
From the 2022/23 season, the licensing regulations will also include for the first time binding provisions for club-fan dialogue. This includes forthwith the obligation that all subjects are covered that directly or indirectly affect fan groups and that the people represented in the club-fan dialogue reflect the diversity of fans at the ground. The DFL fan affairs department will produce guidelines for explanation and clarification of the dialogue regulations in the coming months.
The club is also show their commitment to the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL): The VBL should join the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 as an additional competition in the DFL statutes to continue to develop professionalisation and establishment of the E football competition. That was decided by the assembly on principle. In the next step, the DFL will prepare a concrete resolution to be voted on at the next Members Assembly.
Finally, Hans-Joachim Watzke, CEO at Borussia Dortmund, was elected as the chair of the supervisory board of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH and first deputy speaker of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH e.V. steering committee. He will replace Peter Peters on 11 March 2022, who has been on the supervisory board of the DFL since 2004, and took over as chair of the committee following the resignation of Reinhard Rauball in 2019.
Tickets are on sale for the last two Bayer 04 Women's team home games in 2025. Fans can now purchase tickets for the matches at the Ulrich Haberland Stadium against RB Leipzig and the final fixture of the year in the Rückrunde opener against German champions Bayern Munich. The latest information at a glance.
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Eliminated ahead of the offline round: On Tuesday, 18 November, the Leverkusen console pros played the two remaining matches in the online preliminary round of showdown two. After picking up six points from the first four games last week, the #B04eSports team bagged another three in the two final duels - but it wasn't enough. The Leverkusen team missed out on a place in the offline knockout round, which will take place in this second showdown on 23 November in Frankfurt am Main.
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The VBL Club Championship by WOW 2025/26 continues today, Tuesday 18 November, with the last two of the six online preliminary round matches in the second showdown. Starting at 18:00 CET, Bayer 04 face Karlsruher SC, followed by Borussia Mönchengladbach at 19:00 CET. The games will be streamed live on the Bayer 04 app and on the club Twitch channel. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Bayer 04 has presented the groups on the Monheim council with extensively revised proposals for the planned Campus. As part of constructive discussions, the club presented a plan to the CDU, SPD, Greens, FDP, PETO and the Left Party that envisages a one-third reduction in the area of the site on Alfred-Nobel-Strasse. The distance to neighbours will be increased by almost 60 percent. The green corridor will therefore be significantly larger than previously planned. Here are the main changes.
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A disappointing Sunday afternoon in the Hanseatic city: The Bayer 04 Women missed out on a place in the DFB Pokal quarter-finals after a penalty shoot-out at Hamburger SV. After more than 120 minutes of play, coach Roberto Pätzold's team lost 4-2 on penalties to the Bundesliga newcomers in front of 3,993 spectators at the Volksparkstadion. Julia Mickenhagen's brilliant strike to level at 1-1 on 73 minutes was not enough for the Werkself in this tie. The Bayer Leverkusen Women’s team reached quarter-finals in both of the previous two seasons.
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