Carsten Cramer, the new chairman of Dortmund’s management board, is inclined to let the controversial three-year agreement run out at the end of the 2026-27 season rather than renew it, according to reports in Germany. Rheinmetall, meanwhile, has made clear it would like to continue the partnership beyond 2027.

The Düsseldorf-based defense group told Sport Bild that it is “satisfied with the partnership and regard it as a success,” and that it wants to decide jointly with Dortmund on an extension beyond 2027, as reported by goal.com.

A deal born in Champions League season

The sponsorship was unveiled in late May 2024, in the weeks before Dortmund’s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid, placing one of Germany’s biggest arms producers among the club’s top-tier “champion partners.” The move was pushed through by then-chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke, who argued publicly that security and defense were fundamental cornerstones of democracy.

Supporters saw it differently, and fast. At the first Bundesliga home match of the 2024-25 season against Eintracht Frankfurt, nearly 90 organized supporter groups took part in protests: sections of the Südtribüne, the famous Yellow Wall, temporarily withheld their vocal support, a mock tank was placed outside Signal Iduna Park, and symbolic red cards featuring Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger were displayed in the stands.

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65 percent of members said no

The dispute moved to the ballot box at the club’s annual meeting on 24 November 2024. Of the 855 members who voted, 556, or 65 percent, called on the board to end the Rheinmetall arrangement at the earliest opportunity and to block any extension. 247 voted against; 52 abstained.

That earliest opportunity is the natural expiry of the current contract. Across its full three-year term the deal is worth around €30 million to Dortmund, a meaningful sum but a slice of the €157.9 million in advertising and sponsorship income the club booked for the 2025-26 financial year.

Cramer’s reset after the Watzke era

Cramer, previously speaker of the management board, was appointed chairman on 28 September 2026, with his managing-director contract extended until 30 June 2031. Watzke, who ran the club for close to two decades, has stepped away from executive duties and is now its president. Cramer has spent his first weeks publicly trying to repair the strained relationship with Dortmund’s supporter groups.

The current Rheinmetall contract runs through the end of the 2026-27 season, and Dortmund have not formally announced a decision.

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