Sustainability standard for the Bundesliga –
the first of its kind

The task: To demonstrate social responsibility and make German professional football fit for the future – with a binding sustainability standard that provides guidance in the complex field of sustainability. The goal was to embed sustainability not just as a ethos, but as a structural element in the licensing process of the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga, in order to position the clubs for the future.

Challenge: Sustainability in professional football has so far been thought of and practiced in a rather sporadic way: committed individual initiatives, a few clubs as pioneers, but without systemic integration. What was missing was a common framework: ambitious, practical, and binding. The challenge: a standard that both does justice to the diverse realities of the clubs and unleashes genuine transformative power across the board.

Solution: Based on our preliminary work in the "Future of Professional Football Task Force," the DFL commissioned us to develop a DFL sustainability standard. Our approach: a systemically integrated standard that equally covers governance, the environment, and social responsibility – strong orientation yet adaptable. It was important to us not only to formulate reporting requirements, but also to consider sustainability as a development path and potential for impact.

Implementation: In close coordination with all relevant stakeholders, we developed a three-dimensional standard with clear fields of action, binding requirements, and scope for club-specific implementation. This is a demanding, systematically well-thought-out catalogue of criteria that integrates ecological, social, and governance aspects – while serving as a guideline rather than a purely documentary one. The standard was introduced in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga for the 2023/24 season and has since become part of the licensing regulations. We subsequently supported several clubs (also in collaboration with IMPCT for Change) in its implementation and further development – both conceptually and operationally.

Impact: The sustainability standard will systematically and permanently embed sustainability in professional football – not as an add-on, but as a component of professional club management. Clubs develop their own strategies, establish internal structures, and embed ecological and social responsibility in their organization and operations. At the same time, professional football sends an important message to society: As a popular, high-reach player, it is assuming responsibility and using its platform to make social transformation visible and help shape it.