Germany's Financial Authority Looks Into Mario Götze Trade From Dortmund To Munich

Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) "is looking into the trade of Bundesliga Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Götze to league rival Bayern Munich," according to Andrea Rexer of the SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG. The reason for Bafin's involvement is that Dortmund, as a publicly traded club, "might have violated its information obligation toward its shareholders." If that is the case, the club will have to pay a fine of up to €1M ($1.3M). A Bafin spokesperson said, "We haven't started an investigation, we routinely, unbiased to the results, take a look at the facts and circumstances." The question is whether Dortmund "has informed its shareholder too late" about Götze's trade to Bayern for €37M ($48.2M). A press release regarding the trade was published by the club on Tuesday morning. However, shareholders had to wait until Thursday to receive an official statement (SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG, 4/26).