FRANKFURT, Germany: The German Football League (DFL) on Wednesday dropped a huge cash injection deal with investors for a share of Bundesliga media revenues after widespread fan protests, a U-turn hailed by fanclubs as a “success” for supporters.
“Given current developments, a successful continuation of the process no longer seems possible,” Hans-Joachim Watzke said in a statement on behalf of the DFL’s board.
Fans had littered pitches with tennis balls and chocolate coins, attached bike locks to the goals and released toy cars onto the field to signal their opposition to the deal.
The protests interrupted matches over the last weeks, leading referees to even threaten to abandon games.
In December, German clubs voted by a two-thirds majority in favor of the plan to “secure long-term and sustainable success.”
In exchange for eight percent of future TV rights, the league would receive an immediate investment, said to be close to one billion euros ($1.1 billion), to help market and promote the Bundesliga internationally.
Despite excellent stadium attendances and a lucrative domestic TV deal, international interest in the Bundesliga lags behind that of England’s Premier League or Spain’s La Liga.
But Germany’s powerful fan clubs say the investor process lacked transparency and ignored supporters’ wishes.
German football has a notable commitment to fan control and involvement via a “50+1” rule which restricts the degree of influence an external investor can have over a club.
The rule is incredibly popular among German fans, many of whom value it more than success on the field.
Hailing Wednesday’s decision, fan group Unsere Kurve said the “comprehensive, but very peaceful and very creative protests were ultimately the key to success.”
German football was being tested by the protests, “even if a large majority are in favor of the necessity of the strategic partnership,” Watzke said.
“Fan groups are causing major clashes, which are increasingly jeopardizing game operations... and thus the integrity of the competition,” said Watzke, who also serves as CEO of Borussia Dortmund.
Under the circumstances, the completion of the deal “cannot be guaranteed,” he said, adding that the decision to drop the investor tie-up was unanimous.
A similar proposal which sought to sell off a higher percentage of the TV revenue for a larger fee failed to get the necessary majority when put to a vote in May last year.
Bundesliga investor deal collapses after fan protests
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Bundesliga investor deal collapses after fan protests
- “Given current developments, a successful continuation of the process no longer seems possible,” Hans-Joachim Watzke said
- Fans had littered pitches with tennis balls and chocolate coins, attached bike locks to the goals and released toy cars onto the field to signal their opposition to the deal
Messi strikes for two as Miami clinch MLS Supporters’ Shield
- Messi made it 2-0, taking advantage of a poorly assembled wall to curl a laser-precision free-kick into the corner past the stationary Columbus keeper Patrick Schulte
- The champions of MLS is determined by the winner of the MLS Cup playoffs — where Eastern Conference rivals the Crew and Miami could meet again
WASHINGTON: Lionel Messi scored twice as Inter Miami beat the defending Major League Soccer champions the Columbus Crew 3-2 to clinch the Supporters’ Shield awarded for the best regular season record.
Messi had been subdued until the 45th minute when he put Inter ahead — chesting down a long ball into the box and getting a lucky bounce off Crew defender Malte Amundsen before poking home.
Minutes later, Messi made it 2-0, taking advantage of a poorly assembled wall to curl a laser-precision free-kick into the corner past the stationary Columbus keeper Patrick Schulte.
But 20 seconds after the start of the second half, Columbus pulled a goal back when the ball fell to Diego Rossi just inside the box and he cleverly curled his shot into the far corner.
Straight from the restart, Columbus gifted Miami a third when Schulte raced off his line but with defender Rudy Camacho in his way, he dropped the ball to Luis Suarez who headed into the unguarded goal.
The Crew battled back again though and made it 3-2 through a Cucho Hernandez penalty after Noah Allen handled in the box.
But once again, the momentum Columbus had gained was lost when Camacho was sent off for a second yellow card after a studs up challenge on Federico Redondo.
Seven minutes from the end though, the Crew had a glorious chance to grab a point — and deny Miami their celebration — when a penalty was awarded for handball against Ian Fray after a VAR review.
But this time Colombian Hernandez’s penalty was weak and Miami keeper Drake Callender dived to his right and saved.
The champions of MLS is determined by the winner of the MLS Cup playoffs — where Eastern Conference rivals the Crew and Miami could meet again.
Mbappé can’t rescue Real Madrid in Champions League loss to Lille
Kylian Mbappé came off the bench but couldn’t prevent defending champion Real Madrid from losing 1-0 at unheralded Lille in the revamped Champions League on Wednesday.
With Mbappé a substitute after a minor hamstring injury, the opening goal came from Canada striker Jonathan David ‘s penalty deep into first-half stoppage time. A video review ruled that midfielder Eduardo Camavinga handled the ball.
David scored a hat trick last weekend and shot confidently past goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, who was replacing the injured Thibaut Courtois. Mbappé came on in the 57th.
It was Madrid’s first loss in the competition since a 4-0 hammering by Manchester City in the 2023 semifinal return leg.
Brazil teenager Endrick became the youngest Champions League starter for Madrid at 18 years, 73 days old. He surpassed the mark set by former Madrid great Raúl González, who was 18 years, 78 days old when he faced Ajax in 1995.
Liverpool coach Arne Slot got his first taste of a European night at Anfield and saw his team beat Bologna 2-0, thanks to goals from midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and prolific forward Mohamed Salah.
Substitute Jhon Duran scored a late winner to give Aston Villa another 1-0 win against Bayern Munich.
When the sides met in the 1982 European Cup final, Villa won 1-0 in a big upset. Prince William was born that year, and he was cheering in the Villa Park crowd when Duran pounced late on.
Coach Unai Emery sent the 20-year-old Duran on in the 70th and the Colombia forward — who has made a habit of scoring goals from the bench — did it again with a brilliant left-footed effort from around 25 meters to beat Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.
Juventus had goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio sent off in the 59th for a handball yet still won 3-2 at Leipzig.
Slovenia forward Benjamin Sesko scored both goals for Leipzig but Serbia’s Dusan Vlahovic did the same for 10-man Juve before Francisco Conceição netted in the 82nd.
OTHER MATCHES
Earlier, Atalanta and Feyenoord got their first wins in the competition’s second round of matches.
Italian side Atalanta coasted to a 3-0 win over Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk, Dutch club Feyenoord secured a gritty 3-2 win at tournament newcomer Girona.
Albanian Berat Djimsiti, Nigerian Ademola Lookman, and Italian Raoul Bellanova scored for Atalanta in the German city of Gelsenkirchen. It was officially a home game for Shakhtar, which is playing at German club Schalke’s stadium because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Girona led through center-back David López’s close-range finish, but the visitors equalized with an own goal from Yangel Herrera and took the lead on Antoni Milambo’s 31st-minute strike.
Donny van de Beek made it 2-2 but another own goal, this time from Ladislav Krejci, gave Feynoord — Slot’s former club — victory in a match where both teams missed a penalty.
Kerem Akturkoglu, veteran Ángel Di Maria, Alexander Bah and Orkun Kokcu scored for Benfica in a 4-0 rout of Atletico Madrid; and Monaco netted a last-minute equalizer in a 2-2 draw at Dinamo Zagreb thanks to Denis Zakaria’s penalty.
Also, Sturm Graz lost 1-0 at home to Club Brugge, which won thanks to a curling strike from Christos Tzolis.
Messi back in Argentina’s squad for World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia
- The 37-year-old star had missed recent matches because of an ankle injury
- Messi did not play the two previous rounds after sustaining an injury in Copa America
BUENOS AIRES: Lionel Messi will return to Argentina’s national team for the South American World Cup qualifying matches against Venezuela and Bolivia.
The 37-year-old star had missed recent matches because of an ankle injury.
Coach Lionel Scaloni announced his squad Wednesday for the matches at Venezuela on Oct. 10 and five days later in Buenos Aires against Bolivia.
Messi did not play the two previous rounds after sustaining an injury in the Copa America final against Colombia. Argentina won 1-0.
Argentina lead South American qualifying with 18 points, followed by Colombia (16) and Uruguay (15). The top six teams will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, and the seventh position will play an international playoff for a berth.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Walter Benítez (PSV Eindhoven), Gerónimo Rulli (Olympique Marseille), Juan Musso (Atletico Madrid)
Defenders: Gonzalo Montiel (Sevilla), Nahuel Molina (Atletico Madrid), Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Germán Pezzella (River Plate), Marcos Acuña (River Plate), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique Marseille), Nicolás Otamendi (Benfica), Lisandro Martínez (Manchester United), Nicolás Tagliafico (Lyon)
Midfielders: Leandro Paredes (Roma), Alexis Mac Allister (Liverpool), Enzo Fernández (Chelsea), Giovani Lo Celso (Real Betis), Nicolás Paz (Como), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Rodrigo de Paul (Atletico Madrid), Valentín Carboni (Olympique Marseille)
Strikers: Thiago Almada (Botafogo), Lionel Messi (Inter Miami), Nicolás González (Juventus), Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United), Julián Álvarez (Atletico Madrid), Paulo Dybala (Roma), Lautaro Martínez (Inter Milan)
Barca lure goalkeeper Szczesny out of retirement
Szczesny retired this summer after featuring at Euro 2024 for Poland
BARCELONA: Polish goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has come out of retirement to sign for Spanish giants Barcelona on Wednesday.
“Barcelona and the player Wojciech Szczesny have reached a deal for his signing until June 30, 2025,” said the La Liga leaders in a statement.
The former Arsenal and Juventus goalkeeper, 34, joins after Barca’s first choice stopper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was ruled out potentially until the end of the season with a severe knee injury, sustained on September 22.
Szczesny retired this summer after featuring at Euro 2024 for Poland but has now returned to the game to play in La Liga for the first time.
The goalkeeper had said his “heart (was) not there any more” to play football after leaving Juventus by mutual agreement in August.
Szczesny has made over 600 appearances for club and country over his career, winning three Serie A titles and three Italian cups with Juventus, as well as two FA Cups with Arsenal.
Barca’s reserve goalkeeper Inaki Pena started in place of the stricken Ter Stegen in recent matches.
Dortmund score 7 while Barcelona, Man City and Arsenal all win in Champions League
- Adeyemi scored a first half hat trick as Dortmund routed Celtic 7-1 at home
- There were more big wins Tuesday with Inter Milan defeating Red Star Belgrade 4-0, and tournament debutant Brest routing Salzburg 4-0 away
LONDON: Karim Adeyemi starred as Borussia Dortmund ran riot against Celtic while Barcelona and Manchester City claimed their first wins in the restructured Champions League on Tuesday.
Adeyemi scored a first half hat trick as Dortmund routed Celtic 7-1 at home. It was the second big win from a German team in the competition after Bayern Munich’s 9-2 bashing of Dinamo Zagreb in the first matchday.
Robert Lewandowski got Barcelona off the mark as the Spanish giant eased to a 5-0 home win over Swiss team Young Boys, while his former teammate İlkay Gundogan got City off to a 4-0 win at Slovan Bratislava. Erling Haaland scored his 42nd goal in his 41st Champions League game.
City were held 0-0 by Inter Milan in their opening game, while Barca responded to their 2-1 loss at Monaco, the team’s first defeat under new coach Hansi Flick.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal outclassed his former team Paris Saint-Germain in a 2-0 win with Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka scoring in the first half for the Gunners. PSG coach Luis Enrique’s gamble on leaving Ousmane Dembele out did not pay off.
Arteta enjoyed a successful 18-month loan spell at PSG while still he was still a teenager at Barcelona.
Dortmund fans cry foul
Though the Dortmund team appear to have adapted to the new competition format very well — last season’s beaten finalists have 10 goals from two games after starting with a 3-0 win over Club Brugge — their fans made their opposition to the reforms clear with a huge tifo slamming UEFA.
This season UEFA changed the structure of Europe’s premier competition to add four more teams. The group stage was scrapped for a league system with each of the now 36 participating teams playing eight opponents once in a first phase of the competition.
UEFA claimed the changes would ensure more evenly matched games, but Tuesday’s results — the big wins for Barca, City and Dortmund — appear to belie that claim.
There were more big wins Tuesday with Inter Milan defeating Red Star Belgrade 4-0, and tournament debutant Brest routing Salzburg 4-0 away for its second win in as many games in Europe’s premier competition.
Iran forward Mehdi Taremi struck a penalty past Israel and Red Star goalkeeper Omri Glazer and set up two more goals for Inter hours after his country launched a barrage of missiles at Israel.
Senegalese forward Abdallah Sima netted twice for Brest to take his tally to three goals in two games after he scored in the French team’s tournament-opening 2-1 win over Austrian champions Sturm Graz.
Also Tuesday, Bayer Leverkusen defeated AC Milan 1-0 in Germany thanks a well-worked move finished by Victor Boniface.
Daniel Bragança scored late to earn Sporting Lisbon a 1-1 draw at PSV Eindhoven.
Kaan Kairinen’s brilliant free kick was enough for Prague to draw 1-1 at Stuttgart.
Stuttgart fans displayed a huge choreography saying “Back in Europe” behind one of the goals. It was the German team’s first Champions League match at home since a 1-1 draw with Barcelona in February 2010.
