DUSSELDORF, Germany - Six-time German champions Borussia Dortmund avoided bankruptcy on Monday when Molsiris - the company that owns a 94 percent stake of the Westfalen Stadium - accepted their financial rescue package.
Dortmund received the required 75 percent majority vote from Molsiris to save themselves from filing for bankruptcy, which would have ruined their chances of gaining a licence from the German Football League (DFL). The application is due in the DFL headquarters on Tuesday.
It was described as the 'biggest day in the club's history' and Dortmund live to fight another day with Molsiris agreeing to the club's repayment plan and Dortmund's request to defer the annual 15-million-euro repayments for 2005 and 2006.
Dortmund, Germany's only publicly-listed club, sold their Westfalen Stadium to Molsiris in 2002 and are leasing the 80,000 plus venue until 2017.
The Champions League victors from 1997 are in financial turmoil and expect to record debts of 134.7 million euros (175.5 million dollars) by mid-2006.
Dortmund's financial problems can be traced back to huge gambles on player transfers and wages in the hope that the club would be playing regularly in the money-spinning Champions League.
03/14/2005 15:37 GMT