Sport DFB poker with VW
What happens next with the main sponsor of the national team
As of: 12:50 p.m. | Reading time: 4 minutes
Training with the German national team: The sponsor’s logo is emblazoned in large letters on the players’ shirts
Source: dpa/Julian Stratenschulte
The contract between the DFB and main sponsor VW expires in 2024. In the poker game for an extension, the starting position has changed: the DFB is badly shaken and its brand is battered – there probably won’t be as much money as before.
When the German national soccer team met in the recent past to prepare for international matches, they preferred to do so in Frankfurt/Main. The German Football Association (DFB) campus, which cost 180 million euros, is now located there and must be used. The A team’s entourage cannot stay overnight on the site in Frankfurt’s Westend because there are simply not enough beds, but at least they train there.
The DFB selection is in Wolfsburg before the international matches against Japan on Saturday (8.45 p.m./RTL) and three days later against France (9 p.m./ARD). However, the excellent training conditions and the perfect infrastructure are not the reason why national coach Hansi Flick’s team is staying there. It mainly has to do with the headquarters of VW, the automobile company that has been the DFB’s jersey and main sponsor since January 1, 2019. At that time, VW replaced its long-time partner Mercedes.
The contract between the association and the Wolfsburg company runs until the end of the 2024 European Championship, i.e. in the summer of next year, and the commitment is expected to cost around 25 million euros per year. Both sides, we hear these days, are interested in continuing the cooperation and are satisfied with the current one. They say they are working on a solution. The first discussions have already taken place and more will follow, including these days on the sidelines of the international matches.
Crisis in the A team, the U21 and the women
However, the starting position is different than in 2017, when the current contract was sealed. At that time, Germany was the reigning world champion and the DFB was in a good position. The image values were right, the A-Team in particular was easy to market as a premium product. Six years have passed since then: the association has been badly hit and its brand has been battered. In particular, the former flagship team, the A team, played a major role in this thanks to their elimination in the preliminary rounds of the 2018 World Cup and the 2022 World Cup as well as their elimination in the European Championship round of 16 in 2021. Recently, the U21s, who were eliminated from the European Championship preliminary rounds, and the women’s team joined the crisis team. The women also failed in the preliminary round of the World Cup.
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Now this. The extent to which these disagreements have an impact on negotiations with potential partners is an open question. But the disunity within the association is unlikely to be helpful.
“Football is still a very large communication platform”
Based purely on the sporting performance, VW said that it had certainly not been satisfactory in recent years. “The fans know that, we know that and, above all, the DFB itself knows that. But even if these disappointments have left their mark on TV ratings or stadium attendance: football is still a very large and high-quality communication platform,” shared Gerd Voss, Director of Sports and Communications at Volkswagen AG, responded to WELT’s request – and added: “In addition to pure advertising on a content level, we have launched many social initiatives together with the DFB and its 21 regional associations: for inclusion, for the promotion of football for women, for young talent and amateur sports. This is what sets the partnership apart, it fits in perfectly with Volkswagen as a brand and is therefore also part of our football strategy “Football, that’s all of us”, which includes everyone.”
There is interest in continuing the collaboration. But it can be assumed that in the future not as much money will flow as before. When asked to what extent a large, expensive sponsorship can be communicated to employees, VW said: “Sponsorship is not an end in itself, but part of the expenditure on marketing, sales and communication. For example, it’s about getting a significantly higher media value than you put in in terms of fees. But we can not only advertise our products on this platform, but also draw attention to our commitment to society. This is positive for the company. We took our colleagues with us on these topics from the start.”
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The sporting results, but especially the discussions, will show what it all boils down to. “We know the value of sponsorship,” Gerd Voss concluded: “It can be measured. We at the Volkswagen Football Center have a long history of experience with such topics. In addition, we are currently undergoing a performance program that is also reducing the company’s costs and every expense is therefore being scrutinized very carefully.”
