After news that FIFA is set to allow domestic leagues to stage one fixture per season abroad, German football faces a familiar clash between tradition and commercial growth.
The Guardian reported that FIFA’s new proposals would permit each domestic league to play one competitive match outside its home country, with any host nation allowed to take a maximum of five such games from different leagues. The United States is widely seen as the most likely destination.
Martin Endemann, head of policy at Football Supporters Europe, told DW that German fans and club members would resist fiercely. “I think the German members would object to that and there would be mass protests in the stadium,” he said. “Any football official who would try to do this would have a very, very hard time with those fans in the stadium as well as the members of the respective clubs.”
This debate is not new. Last October UEFA briefly granted La Liga and Serie A permission to play fixtures abroad, but those plans collapsed after local authorities intervened and the fallout became acrimonious.
FIFA’s protocol for relocating competitive fixtures would still require approval from all major stakeholders and gives FIFA the right to veto any move. Even so, many see the change as formalizing a trend already under way through preseason tours and earlier attempts to stage competitive matches overseas.
“Football has been shifting from a locally anchored product to a globally monetized media asset, and once that transition happens, geography becomes flexible,” said Dominik Schreyer, a sports economics professor at the Otto Beisheim School of Management. He argued that framing the rule as one match per season makes it politically palatable but begins to normalize the idea that domestic competitions need not be strictly domestic.
Germany’s football model complicates the issue. The 50+1 rule ensures club members retain majority control, excluding full ownership by wealthy individuals or states, and German fans have repeatedly shown their influence—most recently in blocking a proposed private equity investment. That culture of member power and local identity makes moving league matches abroad especially sensitive.
Financially, the upside exists but may be overstated. Schreyer pointed to the NFL’s example: ahead of the league’s first German regular-season game in 2022, NFL Germany estimated huge ticket demand, and when the Jacksonville Jaguars play in London they are said to generate roughly $35–50 million in revenue per game. Sport Bild reported in late 2025 that Bayern Munich earns about €5.7 million per home match in revenue. Schreyer suggested a club like Bayern or Dortmund could potentially see a low double-digit million-euro uplift from a US fixture, but exact figures are hard to pin down.
He also stressed that staging a competitive match abroad is about positioning as much as direct income. The event combines scarcity, sporting relevance and global media attention in a way that friendlies do not. However, any financial calculus must factor in compensation for local season-ticket holders and other stakeholders who lose the home fixture.
The DFL has publicly opposed competitive matches abroad for years. Hans-Joachim Watzke, chairman of the DFL supervisory board and former Dortmund CEO, was unequivocal: “As long as I am responsible for this league, there will be no match abroad, when it comes to competitive matches. Full stop.” Bayern Munich’s CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen has also voiced opposition.
Schreyer sees the real constraint for German clubs as cultural. German football’s identity remains rooted in local communities, whereas some competitors have embraced global market logic. In the short term, German clubs won’t necessarily fall behind by abstaining, because media-rights income still dominates revenues. But if other leading clubs regularly monetize international demand through premium events while German sides opt out, the gap in global relevance could widen and the money will follow.
Practically, the proposal would only suit a handful of clubs capable of selling fixtures abroad—Bayern and Borussia Dortmund chief among them. Matches such as Hoffenheim versus Augsburg would not attract the same overseas interest. For now, Bundesliga games abroad remain extremely unlikely, but pressure will rise if other major European clubs move ahead.
Edited by: Matt Pearson