The shareholders of Borussia Dortmund GmbH und Co. KGaA looked back on the 2022/2023 financial year at the company’s annual general meeting in the Westfalenhalle on Monday and gave their overwhelming support to the management’s strategy.

“In economic terms, the past year has been a return to normality,” said Christian Kullmann, chairman of the supervisory board. In any case, returning to profitability was not a matter of course given the tense global economic situation. Hans-Joachim Watzke, chief executive officer, emphasised: “We have left the difficult era of Covid behind us, which given that we have more stadium visitors than any other club, cost us over 161 million euros. We were profitable before Coronavirus, and we are profitable again now after Coronavirus.” The net profit for the year totalled 9.55 million euros. In the previous year, the figure was still in the red (€ -31.89 million).

Managing director Thomas Tress presented consolidated revenue totalling EUR 418.239 million to the shareholders and summarised: “This is the highest revenue Borussia Dortmund has ever generated without transfers – and that after three years of the pandemic!” The growth of EUR 16.1 million in advertising, for example, is evidence of “Borussia Dortmund’s appeal”. The management’s goal is to restore the club’s ability to pay dividends for the current financial year. And: “Borussia Dortmund has set out to consistently develop its business model sustainably,” stressed Tress.

With regard to the growth strategy, Hans-Joachim Watzke stated: “The Bundesliga is booming, people are having a great time, because the atmosphere in our stadium is the best, because there are more goals scored in the Bundesliga than any other league.” SIGNAL IDUNA PARK has been sold out for every match this year. The BVB boss also believes that sponsorship, which increased by 16% in the 2022/2023 financial year, is “not yet at its peak”. Watzke sees further growth opportunities in digitalisation, the new Champions League format from the coming season and in women’s football, but not in more expensive tickets: “Dortmund is not located in the most affluent part of Germany. If we were to increase ticket prices by 40%, for example, we would no longer be able to bring people of all social classes to Signal Iduna Park. We won’t go along with everything when it comes to sponsorship either, but we will take a look: where does the company come from, what is their ideology? We always have to remain ambitious, move towards the optimum from what is feasible, but also always remain analytical and realistic.”

imageimage

Watzke also took a moment to look back at the most exciting season finale in the past 15 years: “We couldn’t handle the pressure in the final game. Unfortunately. Everyone wanted Borussia Dortmund to end Bayern’s streak.” The drama of this final matchday could “paralyse a club for years. We’ve worked reasonably well against it so far. I think the fact that we’ve been in the tough glare of the media spotlight in recent months, undeservedly so, has everything to do with events on 27 May.” 

The resolution on the adoption of the annual financial statements was passed with 99.91% of the votes cast, and the ratification of the actions of the personally liable partner with 99.95%. The shareholders voted in favour of ratifying the actions of the members of the supervisory board by 95.33%. Matthias Bäumerl, 57, was elected to the supervisory board as Björn Gulden’s successor. Boris Rupert