Corporate strategy
Borussia Dortmund pursues the objective of defending its position in the top flight of the Bundesliga and sees itself well on the way to accomplishing that goal.
As the first listed German football company, we have expanded our financial base by exclusively marketing the rights to SIGNAL IDUNA PARK as well as by utilising and maintaining the Borussia Dortmund brand more effectively. The Company will continue to focus heavily on its core business of professional football and the sport’s classic revenue pillars: TV marketing, advertising, match operations, transfer deals, conference, catering and miscellaneous activities, and merchandising. Borussia Dortmund is confident that it will be able to further stabilise and expand its position for the following reasons:
- Borussia Dortmund is in sporting terms one of the most successful, well known and popular German football clubs with an outstanding fan base that gives it one of the highest average spectator numbers compared to other European football clubs.
- A football enterprise can only be financially successful if it enjoys sporting success over the long term. In order to make its financial performance less dependent on short-term sporting success in the future, Borussia Dortmund will push ahead further with the national and international marketing of its brand name.
- Germany continues to be one of Europe’s largest football markets, although it still lags far behind other European markets, in particular the UK, in terms of media exploitation rights. This means that Germany has major growth potential.
All financial activities of Borussia Dortmund are geared towards the target groups relevant to a football club: its fans, members and business partners. Products and services should be tailored to these groups as closely as possible. Borussia Dortmund intends to use the brand potential at its disposal to take full advantage of the commercial opportunities inherent in professional club football at an international level. Borussia Dortmund uses its sporting and financial success to assume responsibility, which is tied closely to Dortmund and the surrounding region, and recognises sustainable development as a guiding principle at global level. What it means for Borussia Dortmund is to act in a way that satisfies the needs of today without restricting the opportunities of future generations, while giving equal consideration to the three dimensions of sustainability – economic efficiency, social equity and environmental viability.
Its current business strategy can principally be summarised as follows:
- Sustainably adjusting athletic prospects
- Intensifying the promotion of up-and-coming talent
- Increasing fan involvement
- Utilising and maintaining the Borussia Dortmund brand
- Structuring our business activities and relationships sustainably
Financial performance and business development are dependent on footballing success. Since footballing success is difficult to plan, the best that management can do is to create a solid foundation for success. Investments, particularly in the professional squad, are therefore a necessary prerequisite for achieving footballing objectives such as qualifying for the UEFA Champions League. However, in order to meet financial objectives, planned investments and decisions must under certain circumstances be postponed to the extent these would only be possible by incurring new debt. Moreover, a player might be sold based on financial considerations in cases where this would not have happened had the decision been made purely on the basis of sporting criteria.
Thus, a conflict arises between the pursuit of financial interests and sporting interests, i.e., a situation in which sporting considerations and financial considerations may be at odds with each other, particularly if the club continually falls short of its sporting goals in the long term. In such cases, management weighs the opportunities and risks to find a solution that does adequate justice to the Company’s strategic objectives.
Advertising plays a key role in this context. Over the years, advertising has grown to become one of the Company’s largest income categories. In contrast to central TV marketing, where distribution is already clearly defined in advance, Company management is itself able to determine the requirements for and direction of sponsoring activities and, if necessary, modify the strategy implemented as circumstances change. The key figures for the sponsoring segment were already budgeted for the coming year(s) based on commitments from SIGNAL IDUNA Group (ending 2031) and PUMA International Sports Marketing B.V. (ending 2028), the Company’s chief partners, as well as the two primary sponsors 1&1 Telecommunication SE and Evonik Industries AG (both ending 2025).
Revenues from international competitions are more difficult to budget for, since they depend solely on the team’s athletic performance.