Over the past couple of months, business media has been dominated by one subject - Automotive giant Volkswagen's involvement in what has become known as 'Dieselgate'. What it boils down to, in layman's terms, is that VW made use of a 'cheat device' in their diesel powered vehicles in order to sidestep the United States' Clean Air Act. Very smart, apart from the fact that they were caught out by authorities.

This has caused a snowball effect as lawmakers look to throw the book at VW in order to discourage any other companies from trying the same trick in the future, with the German company allegedly preparing for fines of up to US$16 billion.

What damage could this do to German football as a whole?

Now, this is all very interesting, but what does it have to do with football? And in particular, the Bundesliga? Quite a lot, actually. Defending DFB Pokal champions VfL Wolfsburg are massively reliant on Volkswagen, considering that Die Wölfe are the factory team which allegedly receives around €100 million worth of investment from the company per season.

The entire city of Wolfsburg was initially built to serve as home for the factory workers of VW, and thus the football club emerged as first just a casual form of relaxation for tired workers, and then, over time, a fully-fledged professional club which has made it to the very top tier of German competition, winning the Bundesliga and Pokal. However, this 'artificial' birth of the city and club as tools of capitalism means that there isn't much of a football culture within the city, and the fanbase is nowhere near as fanatical and loyal as one finds elsewhere in Germany.

This has led to a stadium that is more often than not half empty, and a lack of income from a limited fanbase. Despite this, the club has gone from strength to strength due to the backing they receive from Volkswagen. It is a brilliant promotional tool for the company, of course, but there is a deeper reason to the steady investment and improvement that Die Wölfe have experienced over the past five or six years; Martin Winterkorn.

Winterkorn, the recently resigned CEO of VW is, quite simply put, a football man. As well as having taken a lot of interest in the development and improvement of Wolfsburg, he is also a Supervisory Board member at Bayern Munich. This is one of the main reasons why the club has flourished in recent times, finishing as high as second in the Bundesliga last season along with their stunning cup win. It is no secret that Winterkorn has long been pushing for more and more investment into a club he wants to see becoming more self-sufficient. But now that he has been forced to step aside after 'Dielselgate', there are ominous signs that new CEO Matthias Müller is looking to free up capital in expectance of massive fines by cutting investment into the football club.

"That's why we are taking another look at all planned investments. Anything that is not absolutely necessary will be scrapped or delayed. That will not happen without pain."

So, if the club is considered as "not absolutely necessary" by Herr Müller, what would it mean for their standing in German football? Nobody can deny that the club isn't near self-sufficient enough to go it alone and continue their upward trajectory, but many have pegged their hopes on Die Wölfe eventually becoming a worthy adversary for Bayern domestically specifically because they have much more financial muscle than any other Bundesliga club.

Although Bayern themselves and FC Ingolstadt could also be negatively affected by this saga due to their partnership with Audi (Owned by the Volkswagen Group), it is nowhere near the extent of Wolfsburg, who are in danger of being plunged into a financial pit. It seems very likely that they are poised to be the big loser in this whole situation, and even more so if authorities decide to make an example of VW and really throw the book at them. As things stand, there is already talk of record fines being imposed which could cripple even Germany's largest auto manufacturer.

However, Wolfsburg Sporting Director Klaus Allofs has been keen to stress that Volkswagen would think long and hard before doing anything to damage the club too significantly financially. "Wolfsburg is of more value to Volkswagen than is invested in the club," Allofs told German newspaper "Die Zeit""There is no reason for concern", Allofs stated to dpa, but added that "Of course it is clear that we must also play our role in the overall context," explaining that "we must give Mr Müller a few more days" before details could emerge. Despite Allofs' confidence, in the cutthroat enviroment of the business world one can hardly expect sentiment towards a football club from the men in charge of billions and billions of Dollars, not to mention millions of jobs and livelihoods.

"Wolfsburg is of more value to Volkswagen than is invested in the club" - Sporting Director Klaus Allofs after the 'Dieselgate' saga broke loose

As such, Die Wölfe have already seen funds for a new Youth Academy being withdrawn, resulting in the subsequent scrapping of the project. Volkswagen had reportedly set aside between €30 and €40 million in order for the current Pokal holders to develop a 32 hectare plot of land on Dieselstraße in 2017 with youth accomodation, training rooms and up to 14 pitches, with facilities to compete with Germany's best. But, with the financial horizon cloudy, VW erred on the side of caution, despite Wolfsburg allegedly being on the verge of signing a new €80 million deal with Nike.

Many purists would doubtlessly rejoice if Wolfsburg were knocked from the highs of today to the depths of mid-table mediocrity or even worse in the future, but the sad thing is that with the financial clout of other leagues, and Bayern's sustained brilliance, where will the next challenger come from? Bundesliga stars are already being picked off from the league by foreign powers, and while the 50+1 Rule preserves that which makes the league unique and beautiful in the eyes of fans does, unfortunately, hold it back from breaking into a new audience.

As Bundesliga lovers, we are stuck between a rock and a hard place, keen on having the league stand toe to toe with the giants, but also retain the values which makes it so special. That is why we should hope that all turns out well for Die Wölfe, so that they can continue their progression along with the traditional clubs like Borussia Dortmund, VfB Stuttgart, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Nürnberg, who, amongst others, over the last half-century have been cyclical in their rise into a domestic power, receiving and handing over the title of 'Bayern Hunter'.

"I am absolutely convinced that I will be the first to learn in case of changes in the approach towards VfL"Allofs stated to end his dpa interview. Very interesting times lie ahead, so the only thing we can do now is wait and see. 

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About the author
Marco Conradie
Fußball, Football or Soccer, call it what you want, I love it. A thinker of thoughts and writer of words, I dabble in the obscure recesses of German football history at times simply out of pure fascination. The Bundesliga is my passion, and there is nothing better than the beautiful game.