By Eyk Henning

FRANKFURT--Germany's Deutsche Bank AG (DB) has decided not to take a stake in German soccer club Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. (BVB.XE), after the lender was approached by the country's only listed club this year for an alliance.

"The management board of Deutsche Bank today decided unanimously after a long review process, that it won't take any stake in the club," a spokesman for the bank said Friday.

German newspaper Die Welt had previously reported that the bank could take a stake of up to 10% in Borussia Dortmund. The report said Deutsche Bank's supervisory board member Paul Achleitner brought up the idea from his former employer Allianz, which is a shareholder in FC Bayern Munich together with Adidas and Audi.

Analysts say Deutsche Bank could have profited from the investment because the club's shares have significant upside potential and because of the team's international appeal. Borussia Dortmund seeks to make its shares more attractive by gaining well-known anchor investors and hopes to win a financially strong partner that could help close the financial gap to its biggest domestic rival, Bayern Munich, a person familiar with the matter said.

Shares in the club gained about 20% in the past two days after having recently moved to the SDAX index. BVB closed Friday in Xetra trading at EUR4.67, giving the club a market value of about 268 million euros ($365.8 million).

--Neetha Mahadevan and Stefani Haxel contributed to this article.

Write to Eyk Henning at eyk.henning@wsj.com

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires