What is the 50+1 rule & why do Bayern ultras hate Hoffenheim chief Hopp so much?

Bayern thrashed Hoffenheim in a 6-0 victory in Bundesliga on Saturday, but it's what happened late in the game when the match was already decided that is causing quite a stir.

The game was halted three times due to a derogatory banner in the Bayern area protesting and insulting Hoffenheim's owner Dietmar Hopp. 

The referee took the players off the field with just 15 minutes left before bringing the players back on. 

Then the players protested themselves by just casually kicking the ball around to each other to run out the rest of the time left in the game.

But why do Bayern ultras on earth hate Hopp - not even a president of their own - so much? We will need to talk about the 50+1 rule of Bundesliga first...

What exactly is the 50+1 rule?

Essentially, it is a shorthand term for a clause in the regulations of the German Football League (DFL) which states that clubs will not be allowed to participate in the Bundesliga if commercial investors hold more than a 49 per cent stake. 

That means a club's members - the fans - must, therefore, retain a majority ownership stake.

The effect of the rule is to guard clubs against the motives of private investors, who could potentially prioritise and fiercely pursue profit over the will of the supporters or the long-term health of the club.

Broadly speaking the 50+1 rule has been praised for its impact on the game in Germany, with the Bundesliga regularly dominating the average attendance charts of European football and ticket prices remaining relatively affordable for fans. 

As well as that, the governance of clubs by a majority of members has helped to foster a degree of financial stability, with fewer risks being taken.

When was the 50+1 rule introduced?

The rule was established in 1998 as a safeguarding mechanism after the DFL ruled that clubs could become public or private limited companies rather than wholly member-owned entities.

Before 1998 all football clubs in Germany were exclusively owned by their members and run as not-for-profit organisations.

Exceptions

Of course, there are some exceptions to the 50+1 rule - currently three to be precise. In a situation where an individual or group has had an interest in a club for more than 20 years, they can apply to the DFL for an exemption.

This is the case for Bayer Leverkusen, for example, which is owned by the pharmaceutical company Bayer, who helped to establish the club in 1904. 

Wolfsburg - owned by the automobile manufacturer the Volkswagen Group - are another club that is an exception to the rule having been founded along the same lines as Leverkusen but for Volkswagen employees.

The most recent exception was exactly Hoffenheim - software billionaire Dietmar Hopp became the majority owner of the club, 20 years after he started to invest the club.

That is to say, Hopp owned the club in a completely legal way.

The story between Hopp and Hoffenheim

If we look into the background of Hopp's investment to the club, we will find it more obvious that Hopp fully deserves to be the majority owner.

Dietmar Hopp, born in 1940, is a lifelong Hoffenheim fan and once played in the youth system of the club. However, he did not have the talent needed to become a professional player as his talent lies elsewhere.

Hopp started working in IBM after college, before resigning in 1972. He then established SAP - later proved to be the biggest software company in Europe.

But he never forgot his love for football. After achieving massive success in his business, Hopp started financially supporting Hoffenheim in 2000 when the club were playing in the fifth division of German football.

Now Hoffenheim have stayed in the Bundesliga for more than 10 seasons and qualified for the Champions League in 2018. Hopp also spent €100 million to build a new 30,000-seat stadium called Rhein-Neckar-Arena.

Just think about the financial problem suffering Arsenal for all these years after the Emirates Stadium - what Hopp did for Hoffenheim was beyond fans' expectations.

Therefore, despite the fact Hopp did not have the majority ownership before 2020, Hoffenheim fans have been supporting him ever since.

In a word, Dietmar Hopp is both legally and morally the rightful owner of the club and will definitely not use the club to pursue profit for himself.

So why do Bayern ultras hate him so much?

The reason still lies in the German fans' loyalty to the 50+1 rule.

A growing number of financial powers from Asia, Arab, America and all over the world have been investing in European football clubs, which is non-tolerable to many of German football fans.

Meanwhile, they also do not like the rise of tickets price brought by commercial in football. So they support 50+1 rule and UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules more than any others.

That is also why RB Leipzig is hated and seen as the villain in German football as club owner Red Bull GmbH escaped the 50+1 rule with their own methods.

The opinions of fans and clubs are not the same though. Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich have been trying to repeal the 50+1 rule in order to bring in foreign financial power to strengthen their squad and match clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona.

But German fans were strongly against the plan as more than 300 groups of fans sent protest letters to the DFL and Bundesliga. Even their own fans reject it the most, saying '50+1 rule first, Bayern second'.

Eventually, the proposal failed as only 4 of the 36 German clubs voted against the rule in a meeting in March 2018. Bayern president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge went rage after the vote: "A ***** league, where Bayern hold massive advantages for years but everyone feels f*****g comfortable."

In fact, the hatred towards Hopp is not only among Bayern ultras as Dortmund & Gladbach supporters had made banners to curse the Hoffenheim chief.

Positively, Bayern players and manager Hansi Flick and board members including Rummenigge and Oliver Kahn all showed support to Hopp during yesterday's incident and criticized ultras for their indecent behaviors.

There have been enough talks of the 50+1 rule and surely it does have pros and cons. Fans can hold a different opinion to the clubs but in no case can they put up banners to curse and insult others.

Football, as the biggest sport in the world, should have been braced by openness and communication. It should have been a bond between minds and understandings. 

Racism, extremism or whatever about hatred must stay away from football.

After the game yesterday, players from both teams followed Hopp and Rummenigge to applaud Hoffenheim fans, which finally finished a good ending after the incident.

This is what football should look like.