The special thing of clubs in the German football Bundesliga – about the legal forms of the clubs and the resulting consequences

PurposeAlso due to the “50+1 rule”, which exists in the German football Bundesliga and was introduced to regulate competition, clubs with a wide variety of legal forms participate. The aim of this article is to explain the consequences of the rule, the dominance of nonprofit organisations in German football and to contribute to the discussion on whether other football leagues should follow this model.Design/methodology/approachThe study looks at the German Bundesliga with its special 50+1 rule. With reference to stakeholder theory, the management challenges of participants in the Bundesliga are elaborated.FindingsThere are still clubs that participate as purely nonprofit associations, even though from an organisational point of view there are some arguments against this legal form. Due to the 50+1 rule, a nonprofit association has the majority of decision-making powers in each participating organisation. The goals desired by the 50+1 rule, such as “maintaining football as a common good” and at the same time “competitive balance”, do not seem to be achieved.Originality/valueThe article shows that regulation in the leagues appears to make sense and, in the case of the German Bundesliga, has led to participants with different legal forms. However, it also shows that the 50+1 rule is also associated with opposing goals that cannot be achieved in equal measure.