Company Portrait

Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA (also referred to as the "Company" in the following) is one of the strongest brands in international football with one of the highest average number of spectators in Europe. The main focus of the business activities of the Company and the affiliate subsidiaries in the group are professional club football and the economic usage of the potential for revenue in conjunction with it, in particular with regard to the marketing of the "Signal Iduna Park." The primary sources of revenue of the Borussia Dortmund group are revenues from games (including ticketing), marketing TV broadcast rights (including pay TV), advertising (sponsoring), retail (including merchandising), and transfers (compensation payments for players). Beyond its core activities, Borussia Dortmund is also active in fields of business related to football. Currently, the company has interests in the companies BVB Stadionmanagement GmbH (100% of shares), BVB Merchandising GmbH (100% of shares), BVB Event & Catering  GmbH (100% of shares), besttravel dortmund GmbH (100% of the shares), BVB Fußballakademie GmbH (100% of  shares), BVB Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (100% of shares) and Orthomed Medizinisches Leistungs- und Rehabilitationszentrum GmbH (33.4% of shares). The Company has concluded each a profit transfer agreement with  BVB Stadionmanagement GmbH, BVB Merchandising GmbH, BVB Event & Catering GmbH and best travel Dortmund GmbH. The group structure of Borussia Dortmund is depicted in the following graphic.



The Company can be traced back to the Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund, which was founded on 19  December 1909. With the resolutions of the members meeting of Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund on 28 November 1999 and 26 February 2000, all of the existing economic business operations subject to taxation of the  professional football club were spun off and incorporated into the newly founded company, Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA. In October 2000, Borussia Dortmund became the first football club in German to go public at the  stock exchange, and today it is listed in the Prime Standard and in the S-DAX selection index. The legal structure was Borussia Dortmund was designed to ensure a tight legal connection remained between the club and the Company -  also in a legal sense. Management and representation of Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA are incumbent upon  the general partner, Borussia Dortmund Geschäftsführungs-GmbH. The GmbH is, in turn, presented by the managing directors Hans-Joachim Watzke, Thomas Treß and Carsten Cramer; its sole partner is BV. Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund, which is represented by its management board consisting of the president Dr. Reinhold Lunow, his proxy Silke Seidel,  and the treasurer Bernd Möllmann. The following graphic depicts the structures and responsibilities among BV.  Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund, Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA, and Borussia Dortmund Geschäftsführungs-GmbH.


The rights and duties of the supervisory board of Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA elected by the annual general meeting are limited. In particular, it does not have HR responsibility, i.e. the responsibility for appointing and  dismissing managing directors at Borussia Dortmund Geschäftsführungs-GmbH and regulating their contractual provisions. The Supervisory Board is not entitled, either, to adopt Rules of Procedure or a catalogue of transactions requiring agreement for the General Partner. Rather, the committees at Borussia Dortmund Geschäftsführungs-GmbH are responsible for such rights and duties, namely the subcommittee there and the Executive Committee that it in turn forms.