Transfer Track News ·
Currently ranked as Europe’s best-selling newspaper, BILD is a German tabloid similar to the British Daily Mail and The Sun. Known for sensationalized and exaggerated news and a complete lack of journalistic integrity, BILD often prioritizes attention and engagement over substance and factual accuracy.
As regards to transfer news, and football news in general, BILD is considered to be more reliable than the English tabloid media as a whole – namely, The Mirror, The Sun, and The Daily Mail. It has been said that BILD has a lot of internal connections with the higher-ups at many German clubs, especially with the perpetual drama of Bayern Munich’s leadership and management. Overall, BILD is generally regarded to be a Tier 2 or 3 source when it comes to Bundesliga and German national team news, as compared to the Tier 5 ratings we gave to most of the English tabloids overall.
However, when using BILD as a source, one must pay attention to the origins of the stories they are reading. Often times, BILD will quote another paper or source about a particular piece of news, without offering any corroboration or evidence. These kind of rumors differ from the “BILD-exclusive” rumors, which are what we consider to be Tier 2/3. The reposted rumors can vary in quality, but often trend to Tier 4/5 ratings.
Many times, BILD will be the first source reporting on news relating to German super-club Bayern Munich. For example, earlier this summer, BILD provided updates for Bayern Munich’s search for a new manager after the departure of Thomas Tuchel. They were the first to report Ralf Rangnick’s and Roger Schmidt’s rejections of Bayern Munich’s job offers, and Vincent Kompany’s appointment as first-team manager. BILD were also one of the first outlets to report on Josko Gvardiol’s transfer to Manchester City last summer, accurately reporting on the value of his transfer fee.
Over the years, some have accused BILD and its chief football editor, Christian Falk, of acting as an unofficial mouthpiece for Bayern Munich, reporting on what the club wants others to hear rather than what is actually going on behind the scenes. For example, during Harry Kane’s transfer saga last summer, BILD and Christian Falk focused on reporting about Bayern Munich’s unwillingness to pay the full transfer fee for the star English striker and Harry Kane’s reported unhappiness under Italian head coach Antonio Conte. This angle would seem to benefit Bayern’s side of the negotiations by making it seem as though Kane eagerly wanted to leave Tottenham for Bayern, and that Tottenham’s insistence upon the fee was the only thing blocking the transfer from resuming.
Though these rumors are unsubstantiated, it would not be entirely surprising that the largest football club in Germany, Bayern Munich, would be paying one of Germany’s largest sport publications to write news that reflected positively upon their club and transfer strategy.
Overall, unlike other English tabloid sources like the Sun and Daily Mail, BILD has shown greater reliability in reporting Bundesliga and other German-related transfer rumors and stories, although mouthpiece accusations do damage their reputation a bit. Considering all of this information, we have decided to rate BILD as a Tier 3 source for its somewhat consistent reliability, in spite of a potential conflict of interest.