Dr Steffen Merkel to become DFL Executive Vice President of “Audiovisual Rights”

6 February 2020 – This summer Dr Steffen Merkel will take over as Executive Vice President of the “Audiovisual Rights” division of the DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga. In this function, the 34-year-old will also become a member of the DFL Management Board. Steffen Merkel has been working for the DFL since August 2014, initially as a management consultant and most recently since January 2018 as Head of Corporate Strategy of the DFL and Head of Global Operations of the DFL’s subsidiary Bundesliga International. In these roles, he was involved in the preparation and implementation of the 2016 and 2020 media rights calls for tender. He was also responsible for the development of the “DFL for Equity” investment strategy and the introduction of virtual advertising in the Bundesliga. Prior to this, Steffen Merkel, who holds a doctorate from EBS Business School, worked for the consulting firm The Boston Consulting Group.

Merkel’s responsibilities as Executive Vice President of Audiovisual Rights will include national media calls for tender, national and international product management and the protection of audiovisual rights against copyright infringement. He succeeds Dr Holger Blask in this position, who will move to the German Football Association (DFB) as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales on 1 August 2020.