HSVPlus succeeds

Having just kept their Bundesliga status intact, Hamburg have made some extenstive changes. Club members have voted for significant reforms that will see the club follow the business model of Bayern Munich. While the spin off will raise new investment and increase equity, the club will surrender their 100% supporter control to become Germany's third AG (joint stock company) Bundesliga club.

Of the 9,702 members present, 86.9% voted in favor of HSVPlus after the proposed reforms were given an initial 79.4% support in January at the Annual General Meeting. The creation of a new AG corporation 'HSV Football AG' will be in control of football activities with the aim of raising extra investment from "strategic partners".

Businessman Klaus-Michael Kühne, for instance, was influential in the transfer of Rafael van der Vaart in 2012 and has already promised double-digit funding. "We do not want investors who are only concerned with financial returns," said current board member Joachim Hilke.

Ernst-Otto Rieckhoff, former club chairman, is the founder of HSVPlus and the group's plans were endorsed by several of the 1983 European Cup winning team. There is a further team of five that could be a future supervisory board for the club, including ex-players Thomas von Hessen and Peter Nogly.

There are seven key strategies to the HSV Plus initiative:

1) Spin off: Football operations between U16 to Bundesliga teams will move under the new organization of HSV Football AG.

2) Fresh investment: HSV Football AG will work with "strategic partners" to raise new capital for investment in the new organization. A maximum of 24.9% of shares will be made available to these strategic partners - including billionaire Kühne - and the money will be reinvested in other football activities. This would still meet the 50+1 conditions of the DFL's licensing regulations. "The money will be used for debt reduction and investing in the first team and youth department," says HSVPlus.

3) Protection of HSV e.V.: The established organization will still control the majority of shares in HSV Football AG. "The HSV e.V. will not be financially worse off than now," reads the statement.

4) Our participation: There will no longer be potential political divisions ahead of the elections for a place on the supervisory board. The HSV e.V. bureau will continue to appoint the board of HSV Football AG after approval from the election committee.

5) No changes: The new HSV Football AG will continue to use the same HSV symbol, trademarks and registered logos. The comparison is made to the football spin off of Borussia Dortmund, who retain their yellow-and-black colors as well as the club's crest.

6) Supporters club: The supporters will not be part of the supervisory board, opening up space for greater athletic expertise. The representative of the supporters club will be part of the election committee for the General Assembly.

7) Joint bond: The club's 2012 launched bond for a brand new training campus will be transferrable between the two organizations.

The chief executive of HSV Football AG has yet to be confirmed, but the organization's representatives confirmed talks had been initiated with the current sporting director of Zenit St Petersburg, Dietmar Beiersdorfer.

Both Oliver Bierhoff, the current Germany team manager, and Jens Lehmann have also been touted for the position, which is likely to be vacated by Oliver Kreuzer.