Development of performance indicators

Development of financial performance indicators

The table below presents the Borussia Dortmund Group’s financial performance indicators – consolidated revenue, consolidated total operating proceeds, operating result (EBITDA), result from operating activities (EBIT), net profit/loss for the year, cash flows from operating activities and free cash flow – for the 2022/2023 financial year and for the previous year as well as the amounts that were forecast for the financial performance indicators for the 2022/2023 financial year on 30 June 2022.

Development of non-financial performance indicators

Borussia Dortmund capped the advance sale of season tickets at 55,000 for the 2022/2023 season. Of the approximately 80,000 fans on the waiting list, only about 200 received a ticket. Even the restrictions on the numbers of spectators allowed in stadiums imposed in recent financial years due to the pandemic did not dampen the interest in Borussia Dortmund. Accordingly, this season, Borussia Dortmund has played every home match to nearly sell-out crowds and continues to have one of the highest attendance rates in all of Europe.

The growth of our active fan communities also demonstrates that the reach of Borussia Dortmund’s brand is expanding. As at 30 June 2023, some 67,000 fans are members in 1,037 fan clubs, compared to approximately 66,000 fans in 995 fan clubs as at 30 June 2022. In order to showcase Borussia Dortmund’s ties to its fans, the club erected a “fan club” wall at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK that immortalised each and every fan club.

Borussia Dortmund’s reach on social media is also a major contributing factor to the club’s brand presence. The increasing number of followers underscores the steadily growing interest worldwide in Borussia Dortmund and offers Borussia Dortmund an opportunity to present the connection between the club’s brand and its values to a broad national and international fan base. On 30 June 2022, Borussia Dortmund had over 52 million followers on social media, and that number has since climbed to more than 58 million followers as at 30 June 2023. The most important platforms for Borussia Dortmund and its fans are Instagram (22.5 million followers; 30 June 2022: 19.2 million followers) and Facebook (15.2 million followers; 30 June 2022: 15.1 million followers). The club’s presence is also boosted by the social media activities of its players. For instance, Marco Reus is one of the Bundesliga’s most popular players with more than 14 million followers on Instagram.

Overall, Borussia Dortmund remains as popular as ever, which is also reflected by the increase in the club’s advertising income and the addition of new advertising partners.

The Borussia Dortmund brand stands for sustainable development and is therefore an integral part of the corporate strategy.

In May 2022, DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH adopted sustainability criteria which will apply for the first time to the licensing procedure for the 2023/2024 season. Divided into two categories, the Minimum Criteria will come into force in stages. Borussia Dortmund views the introduction of these criteria as a major opportunity for professional football in Germany. Furthermore, in the next two years, Borussia Dortmund plans to prepare as best as possible for the entry into force of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The Corporate Responsibility department was expanded and additional resources were allocated to other departments so that they can afford sustainable development even greater attention in their respective areas of responsibility.

BVB’s “leuchte auf” foundation celebrated its 10-year anniversary in the previous year. The foundation is a key component of Borussia Dortmund’s CSR activities and supports non-profit organisations and initiatives, primarily in and around Dortmund. The foundation functions as a multiplier, advancing Borussia Dortmund’s involvement within the community and supporting local structures by directly funding educational projects that seek to root out discrimination and promote the environment and healthy lifestyles.

In September 2022, Borussia Dortmund organised another educational trip to Auschwitz for its employees as part of the club’s work to combat discrimination. With the support of the club’s partner Evonik Industries AG, a delegation embarked on a four-day programme to visit the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. Borussia Dortmund has a long history of fighting all forms of discrimination, and this trip is a continuation of that commitment. This also includes marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day and supporting the World Jewish Congress’ “#WeRemember” campaign.

In November 2022, the club was finally able to host a BVB day of action (“Aktionstag”) once again at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK following a two-year suspension of these the events due to the pandemic. Since 2017, the club has held three such events in an effort to combat various forms of discrimination and promote moral courage. This year’s event was entitled “BlackRainbowYellow – For more diversity in football. Against LGBTQI+ hostility”. The many lectures and workshops were open to all comers, aged 14 and up.

In addition to the social dimension of sustainability, Borussia Dortmund also takes its environmental responsibility seriously. Accordingly, the teams in the Corporate Responsibility and Organisation departments were expanded. The overriding goal is to permanently monitor and manage Borussia Dortmund’s environmental impact and energy performance and to mitigate that impact and improve the energy performance in a structured process. To this end, in April 2023, we began to work on implementing an environmental management system. That work is still ongoing. The first certification in accordance with ISO 14001 is scheduled for Q3 2024. We are also seeking to implement an energy management system, which will serve as the basis for our emission avoidance and reduction strategies. We screened the downstream CO₂ emissions for the first time as at the end of the reporting date. Scope 3 also includes the mobility impact of fans travelling to and from Borussia Dortmund’s matches, which is responsible for the majority of the downstream CO₂ emissions related to football. Borussia Dortmund continues to look for ways to make travel to and from the stadium as environmentally friendly as possible. In cooperation with Dortmund’s municipal utilities authority (DSW21), Borussia Dortmund therefore expanded its KombiTicket combined match/transport ticket for both individual matches and season tickets. They now cover the entire state of North Rhine-Westphalia, thereby increasing the use of public transport and helping to cut CO2 emissions. Until the 2021/2022 season, the tickets had previously only been valid within the VRR transport authority region. Together with our sustainably partner DSW21, Borussia Dortmund conducted a mobility survey at the club’s home match against VfB Stuttgart to determine how fans could travel to and from the stadium more sustainably. A commuter portal for fans is also being planned. Once again, Borussia Dortmund has offset the emissions associated with the team’s air travel with recognised certificates.

The club’s environmental commitment also includes educational projects in the region organised as part of the BVB KidsClub and the BVB Foundation. The BVB Educational Garden, Stadt.Nah.Tour and Borsig-Bienen projects are primarily aimed at environmental education for children and young people in the topic areas of “our natural surroundings”, “biodiversity” and “environmental protection”. Borussia Dortmund created a new staff position in October 2022 to help the club manage the challenges posed by supply chain management and the expansion of the club’s portfolio of sustainable products. An upcycled merchandise collection was launched, and plans are in place to expand the range of certified products.

In the past year, eight clubs from the first and second Bundesliga divisions joined forces for the first time as part of the “Vom Feld in den Fanshop” (From field to fan shop) initiative, which seeks to assist 450 farmers of a cotton cooperative in India to make the switch to farming organic cotton in the coming three years. Borussia Dortmund is part of this alliance. The initiative also offers children and youngsters in nearby farming communities educational opportunities in the form of sports programmes. These will be aimed particularly at girls and young women. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the textiles company BRANDS Fashion launched the initiative with help from Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

For more information on Borussia Dortmund’s sustainable development, please visit https://verantwortung.bvb.de/en.