SPORT:Bundesliga lessons for Nigerian football clubs

The StarTimes and Bundesliga
International, Group of African sports journalists had the rare opportunity to see the dynamics that have made the clubs in the German top-flight the most profitable in world football.

On a recent tour of two German cities, Munich and Mainz, on the Bundesliga Tour, organised by leading pay television operator and exclusive broadcast holding in Africa,

Unlike the Nigerian League, which is mired in financial troubles, Unlike the Bundesliga League that is very strong in financial issue and founded on a strong and well sound business environment.

Established in 1962 in Dortmund by the German Football Association
The first season of the Bundesliga started in 1963 and its structure and organised

Unlike the government ownership club structure in Nigeria, German clubs in the Bundesliga operate under the 50+1 rule structure that stipulates that teams are majority- owned by German club members.

This generally accounts for why a club like Bayern have sold all their tickets for the 2018-2019 season since last February, irrespective of the fact that the Bundesliga has the lowest ticket prices and the highest
average attendance out of Europe’s five major leagues.

In Nigeria, where football clubs run
without academies to encourage the next youngsters that will take over from the league stars, Bundesliga sides have world - class academies that regularly produce out players that go as far as playing in the country’s top-flight league.

On the preponderance of football academies in Germany, Marco Beck the Bundesliga International project manager for audiovisual rights. said, ‘’Youth development is the cornerstone of German football success’’.

Throwing more light on what makes the Bundesliga a success story for other leagues to learn from Bundesliga International’s Manager, Sales, Europe and Africa, Audio Visual Rights, Henning Brinkmann said, ‘’the German  system is one that promotes effectiveness,  discipline and excellence and the bottomline is that the ownership of clubs is in the hands of the citizens and the people feel part of the system and collectively work hard to see the success of the team.