Patron Dietmar Hopp returns his majority voting rights in the professional department to the parent club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. The return means that the Bundesliga soccer club is giving up its special status outside of the 50 1 rule. However, there is no less money for TSG.
Majority owner Dietmar Hopp is returning the Bundesliga soccer club TSG Hoffenheim to the circle of regular 50-1 clubs. The billionaire waives his special status with the Kraichgauers and returns the majority of voting rights in the professional department to the club. TSG announced this.
Alongside Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg, Hoffenheim has so far been one of the exceptions approved by the German Football League (DFL) with a view to the so-called investor ban. The Kraichgauer received the special status from July 2015 as a result of Hopp's long-term financial support. For several years now, however, the Hoffenheimer Spielbetriebs GmbH has been financed from its own resources - mainly through transfer surpluses.
"It was never about power for me," said Hopp: "Before and after the exemption was granted, we always acted in accordance with 50 1. The special status was never intended to undermine or undermine this regulation. I know that the 50 1 rule, which I have always supported, is a great asset in German football."
Most recently, there had been increasing criticism of Hopps' decision-making authority in the environment of the club, which was threatened with relegation. He has now taken the wind out of the sails of this criticism, and the return of the rights is to be initiated in the coming days. A "capital outflow" is not associated with the step, said TSG.
With his move, Hopp also saved the club from possible negative effects in the near future. The Bundeskartellamt assessed the exceptions to the 50 1 rule as problematic. The DFL leadership had recently promised a solution to the problem by the end of March. "In the course of the debates, it is now important to me to create clear conditions for TSG in terms of the applicable regulations, to which I have always felt obliged," explained Hopp.
