Deutsche Fußball Liga

The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (German Football League) (also known as DFL) is a subsidiary of the league association Die Liga – Fußballverband. The DFL is responsible for the operation of the German football leagues Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga. The league association is the association of clubs of the Bundesligas. The president of the league association and chairman of supervisory board of the DFL is Reinhard Rauball. Christian Seifert is CEO of the DFL.

Function
The DFL was founded on 18 December 2000 as a GmbH. The organisation is a subsidiary of the league association, which originally operated Germany's professional football leagues before. Today the Bundesligas are operated by the DFL, but jointly hosted by the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB) and the league association. Several documents define the cooperation of the DFB and the league association:


 * constitution of the DFB
 * constitution of the league association
 * base contract of DFB and league association

The league association is the association of clubs of the Bundesligas. Those clubs are members of the league association and indirectly of the German Football Association through their respective state associations. The league association is a member of the DFB, though.

Bodies
The bodies of the DFL are the annual meeting, the executive officers and the board of directors, which is identical to the management of the league association.

Duties
The DFL's main duties are the operation of the Bundesligas, marketing, and licensing of the Bundesliga-clubs. The organisation of the Supercup is a part of the operation duties of the DFL. Marketing duties include the marketing of domestic and international TV-licenses, radio licenses, and internet licenses.

Licensing of the Bundesliga-club includes per contract the licensing of the 3rd Liga clubs, too. The procedure has evolved from the procedures used by the DFB, when it still operated the Bundesligas. The DFL can refuse to issue a license if a club does not meet certain requirements. These criteria include financial, lawful, infrastructure, personnel, administrative, media, and security requirements. Highly important and to date the only criterion which led to major problems for certain clubs is the financial criterion. With this criterion the DFL tries to ascertain that all clubs remain solvent during the season.