Tuesday, June 1st, 2021
Allegedly targeted attacks
DFB interim boss complains of “pure character assassination”
The struggle for interpretative sovereignty at the German Football Association remains intense. After the resignation of President Fritz Keller, Rainer Koch is now head of the largest German individual sports association. He accuses his adversaries of deliberately and publicly discrediting him.
DFB interim president Rainer Koch complained about a media campaign against his person and spoke publicly of “pure character assassination”. In an interview with the “Spiegel”, the 62-year-old defended himself against what he saw as a deliberate misrepresentation of his dealings with the media consultant Kurt Diekmann.
“I am pretty speechless about the audacity with which the media attempted in the media to deliberately put my contacts with Mr. Diekmann in the wrong context and thus discredit me and the investigations carried out by Esecon as much as possible,” said Koch. The consultancy company Esecon, which is engaged by the DFB, examined the events surrounding the “summer fairy tale affair” of the 2006 World Cup and the cooperation with the marketer Infront.
“I know that the investigation of the Infront contracts by the consulting company Esecon did not spark enthusiasm for everyone in the football world,” said Koch: “From the point of view of the DFB interests, the work of Esecon and that of Mr. Diekmann led in the background Media work to very positive results for the DFB. ” Koch therefore suspects targeted attacks, including Diekmann’s mail account having been hacked.
Critics had stated that Diekmann had operated and controlled the dismantling of DFB President Fritz Keller on behalf of General Secretary Friedrich Curtius and paid for by the DFB. Keller has since resigned, and the DFB agreed to terminate the contract with Curtius. Koch vehemently protested against the representation that he had been in contact with Diekmann in this connection.
Attempts are made to “scandalize previous contacts between Diekmann and me and all of a sudden to defame me as a manic, permanent presidential murderer. That is absurd and nothing but pure character assassination,” he said. It is logical for Koch that he has not resigned as Vice President himself and instead leads the DFB on an interim basis together with Peter Peters, “because the presidents of the state and regional associations of the DFB expressed their trust in me at the closed meeting in Potsdam in a secret vote. So there is no reason for me as the first amateur footballer to resign now. ”
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