Structural reorganisation: DFL Group sets itself up for a successful future

As the parent company, the DFL is responsible for central functions in the association and club sector, as well as overarching corporate functions
New subsidiary will bundle together sales and digital activities
Sportcast remains the central production unit of the DFL Group as a subsidiary
Philip Sagioglou returns to the DFL as EVP and Member of the Management Board

26 September 2025 – The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga is adjusting the corporate structure of the DFL Group. In this way, the league organisation is structurally positioning itself for a successful future in the core areas of associations and clubs, sport and marketing. Specifically, there will be three central business units in the DFL Group in future:

The DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH, as the overarching parent company, will be responsible for central functions in association and club operations (including licensing, association law, institutional and political relations, football, match operations and fan affairs) as well as overarching corporate functions (including legal, finance, strategy, corporate development, communications, human resources).
As a wholly-owned DFL subsidiary, a new sales and digital unit bundles together all media rights, products (media product and digital products), video content, commercial partnerships and marketing activities, among other things.
Sportcast GmbH will continue to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary and the central production unit of the DFL Group.

“The requirements for a league organisation are evolving considerably”

At a joint meeting of the Executive Committee of DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga e.V. and the Supervisory Board of DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH, the league bodies agreed to a corresponding proposal by the DFL CEOs. The DFL Supervisory Board, which is responsible in accordance with the articles of association, confirmed this with a unanimous resolution.

DFL CEOs Marc Lenz and Steffen Merkel will each serve as joint CEOs of both the parent company DFL GmbH and the new subsidiary. Marc Lenz will focus on the tasks of DFL GmbH, while Steffen Merkel will concentrate on the business of the sales and digital unit. The Managing Directors of the current subsidiaries Bundesliga International and DFL Digital Sports, Peer Naubert and Bastian Zuber, will also take on management roles in this unit.

Marc Lenz says: “The demands on a league organisation have evolved considerably – whether financially, legally, in terms of sport, sports policy or marketing. With this step, we are ensuring that the DFL Group is even more strongly positioned, both in terms of the associations and clubs sector as well as in marketing. We will expand our work in the areas of sports policy, sports law and sport – and at the same time push the further development of the leagues and clubs by providing support and impetus. The aim is to form a sporting, national and international sports policy, sports law and commercial framework for successful national leagues.”

Steffen Merkel says: “The current structure of the DFL Group has been in place since 2012 – especially in recent years, the variety of interactions between the individual units have grown. The new subsidiary will bring together the commercial issues in order to set up centralised marketing from a single source for a successful future. This is because national media rights sales, digital development and international business can no longer be separated from one another and have long been intertwined in the DFL Group, including in operational terms. We are building on this and will continue to expand the good cooperation between DFL GmbH, the new subsidiary and Sportcast in the future.”

The new structure is expected to be implemented at the start of 2026. The DFL Foundation, Liga Travel and DFL minority shareholdings such as Sportec Solutions AG and DFB Schiri GmbH will remain unaffected by the changes.

Personnel reinforcement

At a joint meeting with the DFL Executive Committee, the responsible DFL Supervisory Board also unanimously confirmed the proposal of the DFL CEOs to strengthen the structure in terms of personnel and to fill a vacancy on the Management Board of DFL GmbH. Philip Sagioglou is returning to the DFL and, as EVP and member of the Management Board from 1 December 2025, will be responsible for the closely related areas of communication and corporate development, which were no longer anchored at the Management Board level in recent years.

Philip Sagioglou worked for DFL GmbH for more than six years from 2017 in senior positions, having previously worked for various media outlets. During this time at the DFL, the trained journalist and graduated sports manager was already closely involved in the company’s strategic projects. He decided to leave the DFL in 2022. Since his subsequent departure in the summer of 2023, he has been a Partner at a cross-industry management consultancy for strategic communication and transformation.

DFL CEOs Marc Lenz and Steffen Merkel: “With a view to the core topics of the coming years, overarching communication that is closely linked to the strategic direction will be of great importance. Philip Sagioglou knows the DFL Group inside out, has experience in leadership roles in the company as well as in consulting and, in combination with his personality, expertise and passion for football, has the ideal profile to bundle together the overall communication and corporate development. Nobody was happy to let him go at the time – so we are all the more pleased to have Philip Sagioglou back in the ranks of the DFL from December.”

The communications teams, which have been anchored differently since 2022, will once again operate from an overall directorate. This will include Corporate Communications (headed by Tobias Kaufmann), Brand Communications (Thomas Markert) and Live Communications & Events (Kristina Siebert) and will be bundled together with the Corporate Development teams (Silke Kuisle) in the new Management Board division.