Despite the difficult economic environment, the clubs made a total of 2.03 billion euro last season, a 5.3% increase on the 2007-08 season. That means that for the first time, the German professional game had a turnover in excess of two billion euro. The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH announced the news at the public release of its financial report for the season.

"Bundesliga well positioned for uncertain times"

"The Bundesliga is proving its robustness in difficult times. It's not possible to predict how the global economy will develop however, and the league will not be able to operate entirely independently of economic trends. All-in-all though, the Bundesliga has done its homework and is well positioned even for uncertain times”, DFL CEO Christian Seifert says.

The global recession notwithstanding, the results are positive overall for the German professional game, although they are down on the season before. The clubs brought in around 11 million euro after tax; the equivalent figure for 2007-08 was 24.5 million. 531 million euro in equity is however a new high for the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, up from 505 million the previous season.

Record tax contribution

The professional clubs have thus seen a rise in capital resources of almost 85% since 2006. Against that, liabilities have also risen to 709 million euro, up from 632 million euro the previous year.

The professional game remains as ever a significant contributor to Germany's tax coffers. The clubs and capital companies contributed more than 683 million euro in tax and levies in 2008-09, up from 665 million euro the season before, also a new record high.