“We can be very pleased with this licensing decision. As in previous years, we have worked intensively on financial consolidation after the Coronavirus pandemic and relegation. We will continue on this path, said Klaus Filbry, chairman of the Board of Management. “My thanks goes to my colleagues across the departments of our company, who, for example, had to provide evidence around sustainability for the first time and whose hard work made this good result in the licensing process possible.”

The DFL look at financial, sporting, legal and personal administrative criteria in the licensing process in order to ensure integrity-filled and fair competition. There were also criteria in relation to the stadium, as well as sustainability and the virtual Bundesliga for the first time.