The German Bundesliga has turned into the breeding grounds of the world champions, and the process has been mesmerizing

Mario Goetze – Scorer of the winning goal of Germany’s 2014 World cup triumph was one of the many talents brought up by Germany’s efficient youth resource management

Hence, now you would probably be able to connect the dots and relate to Germany’s efficient management of youth resource that I was talking about earlier in the article – one that has helped German clubs to maintain a stable balance in their financial ecosystem without compromising on the footballing quality.

The fact that German football remains short in terms of global appeal is more down to the fact that – as Arunava points out – Bundesliga still remains an "inward looking market" where the clubs care more about their "own" fans than those far away.

That is again indeed true as Bundesliga broadcasts every single league game in Germany and in the process earns an enormous revenue of 485 million Euros per year. However, when it comes to global broadcasting, the Bundesliga has lagged considerably behind. Until recently, Bundesliga was shown on GolTV and Neo Sports in the United States and India respectively – arguably two of the biggest market for an international football audience.

Both the channels are far from being the dominant player in their respective countries and thus evidently, Bundesliga failed to have the far-reaching effect of the English Premier League or the Spanish La Liga – both of which were broadcasted via more popular channels. However, Fox Sports in US and STAR SPORTS in India have since bought the rights for broadcasting the league and they are expected to have a positive impact.

But despite the recent change in stance, Bundesliga still has miles to go before it can match the brand prowess of the English Premier League – unanimously the most watched league in the world.

I happened to catch up with Rory Smith, football writer for The Times and ESPN and he felt it was the "language" advantage that gives Premier League an edge over the Bundesliga, despite the fact that footballing wise there is not much difference.

"In terms of the EPL in general, I think the advantage it has is the language. The standard of football in England, Germany, Spain and Italy is, as a rule, pretty similar: some would say the PL is better, some the Bundesliga, some Spain, depending on what you like. The best players are in Spain. Bayern and Dortmund are as good as the top two in England.

“The EPL is a better-presented package, and that matters, and it is the first truly global league, which means others have to do more to catch up. But the really important thing is the language: the EPL is conducted in English, which makes it easier to access in America, Australia and, crucially, in Asia, where people are far more familiar with English than, say, German.

“That makes it more accessible, and therefore more popular, and that is something no other league can overturn."

Honigstein agreed to this very fact and further brought out some very interesting points regarding this matter.

"Extensive marketing is certainly lacking in Germany. The language barrier is also a crucial factor. However, clubs in Germany are trying to overcome that. Recently, Bayern Munich conducted their team presentation in English – something that astonished most of us. But it is a sign that the clubs are slowly trying to reach out to a larger audience.

“Further, unlike the English or the Spanish, Germany never had any colonial ties with far away countries. This means that they do not have any historical cultural ties with nations in other continent – which makes it more difficult engage foreign interest."

"Incidentally, also because Germany does not have a benefactor model with foreign ownership of clubs, they sometimes might lose out on some of the foreign support. For an instance, the people of Abu Dhabi might feel a connection with Manchester City, since the club's owner belongs from that part of the world, or for that matter, the Russians might be interested in Chelsea or similarly the Americans might be drawn towards the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal or Manchester United.

“Things are changing in Germany and there are certainly attempts to bridge the gap between the clubs and the foreign audience. But the Premier League has nearly a 40 year headstart."

Renowned sports broadcaster and the lead anchor for the Premier League's international content service, John Dykes, also echoed a similar thought when I got in touch with him. He reserved some credit for the marketing done by the individual clubs as well, which left the Premier League ahead of the others, in terms of mere popularity.

"As for global appeal of the Premier League, I think you have to separate the individual marketing successes of the clubs - some of the biggest in the world are from the Premier League - from the league itself. Also, given the established strength of the Premier League in terms of global broadcasting/streaming, any league that kicks off at the same time is going to struggle to compete."

However, some at Germany also believe that the “inward looking market” has a unique advantage as well – as was evidenced in the statement of Bayer Leverkusen earlier. The fact that the Bundesliga clubs have developed an incredible bond with their local fans often intrigues football followers worldwide and attracts global eyeballs. The club pointed out that a writer, all the way from India, asking a question about the atmosphere in stadiums in Germany is a testament to this very fact. On second thoughts, that is indeed a valid argument.

Incidentally, despite their general lack of extensive marketing outside the continent, it is probably worth noting that Bayern Munich were among the very first high-profile foreign clubs to touch the shores of India. They've been frequent visitors to the subcontinent in the past decade and earned a massive vote of confidence when they fielded a near full strength side against an India XI in a testimonial match for the retiring Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia in 2012.

In fact, legendary Bayern goalkeeper Oliver Kahn also happened to play his final match in Bayern colours against iconic Indian club Mohun Bagan in May 2008 . This year, Borussia Dortmund has further reinstated Germany's presence in Asia by starting off their pre-season campaign in China.

Bayern's gesture for the farewell of the legendary Indian captain was appreciated widely

The Germans clubs, interestingly, have further figured out other unconventional ways to generate revenue, in order to make up lost ground for their lacking global appeal. For an instance, a large percentage of their revenues come from various corporate partnerships. FC Schalke 04 are once again one of the front-runners in this regard and have set a positive example for clubs both home and abroad – something that has made them stand 7th in the world, in terms of operating income for a football club.

Quite recently in 2015, VFL Wolfsburg entered into one such partnership with Indian software giant Tech Mahindra. Further, Bundesliga clubs have been pretty open about selling their stadium naming rights to other private organizations, thus opening up a whole new source of revenue generation for the clubs. In 2013/14 season, 15 Bundesliga clubs benefited from this, with the highest earners being Bayern Munich (Allianz Arena - 6 million Euros/year) , Schalke(Veltins Arena - 5.5 million Euros/year) and Borussia Dortmund (Signal Iduna Park - 4.7 million Euros/year).

However, the English clubs, on the other hand, have at times 'appeared' rather reluctant to look at football from a modern outlook and have sporadically shown resistance to change. The importance of tradition and culture have often come in the way, as evidenced in the case of Newcastle United, where fans were quite vocal against renaming St James' Park to Sports Direct Arena.

Honigstein, however, believes stadium naming comes from necessity in Germany, rather than a particular set of fans having a more modern outlook than others.

"The Bundesliga has far less investment from foreign shores and even lesser income from ticket prices. This means the clubs are forced to innovate and find different revenue sources. Further, many of the stadiums were built before the 2006 world cup. Hence, they do not have rich tradition associated with them.

“Hence, fans lack the similar emotional attachment with them, as it might be the case in England. Selling stadium naming rights, thus, appears to be a very good option from the commercial point of view."

Smith conveyed his support to this very school of thought as he opined on the reasons why stadium naming is 'relatively unusual' in England, unlike in Germany.

"I think the issue with naming rights is more about opportunity. Fans in England have not proved so resistant to newly-built grounds having corporate names and, in some cases, they have actually caught on quite well (the Emirates and the Etihad in particular). The problems have more occurred with renaming traditional grounds. That has happened in Germany, too, where I think there was a lot of resistance, for example, at Borussia Dortmund initially.

“That said, I think there are two key differences: one is that, because of the 2006 World Cup, there are a lot of new grounds in Germany; it is not so strange to have naming rights, whereas in England it is still relatively unusual. The second, and more important, is that fans in Germany still feel connected to their clubs and, because ticket prices are limited, they understand that teams must seek other sources of revenue.

“In England, that is not the case: if Liverpool, say, were to sell naming rights to Anfield, fans would resist because it would be in addition to charging huge sums of money for tickets, not instead of."

Now, since it's been a long article with scattered details, I would, at this point of time, like to sum things up and try to extinguish any false notion that might have cropped up among the readers by now.

Yes indeed, despite their structured financial model, Bundesliga clubs are actually at no point earning more than their English counterparts. In fact, with the new Premier League television deal kicking in, the English clubs shall be light years ahead than the German clubs in terms of mere income. Well then, what is this so-called "efficiency of the German financial model" that we were talking about all this while?

Well, the question of efficiency of the model kicks in, in the way the German and the English clubs are in fact "spending" their income and at the same time sustaining footballing success. And that is where their robust financial structure is making the Bundesliga a more profitable organization, unlike the debt-ridden English Premier League.

In fact, such is the regulation and governance of the league, that every club in the Bundesliga is evaluated on their financial competence before every season; failing which; the clubs are denied from participating in the league. This ensures the clubs are obligated to be more careful and not go wayward with their economic management.

The mantra at Germany is pretty clear and it follows a very basic principle of "not spending more than you have".

Former English international and noted television personality Gary Lineker had once said - "Football is a simple game. Twenty-two men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans always win." Well, he was perhaps right. But the story of German success is not only confined to the boundaries of the football pitch – they are clearly winning off it as well; they are winning the "battle of the finances”!