Answers to the embarrassing chaos: How the DFB destroys itself


Answers to the embarrassing chaos
How the DFB destroys itself

Fritz Keller is still DFB President. With every hour without a reaction from the 64-year-old to the resignation of the powerful state and regional bosses on Sunday in Potsdam, the pressure on Keller and the German Football Association, which is deep in the next leadership crisis, grows. Keller, who had massively weakened himself with his Nazi comparison, would be the third DFB president in succession to give up office because of misconduct, after Wolfgang Niersbach and Reinhard Grindel. Questions and answers.

What if Keller steps down? If he bends to the pressure of the presidents of the state and regional associations, the statutes regulate the further procedure. “If the office of the president ends prematurely or if he is not only temporarily prevented from exercising the office, the representation of the president is incumbent on the equal first vice-presidents”, it says in the statutes. Rainer Koch, who is responsible for the amateurs, and Peter Peters as deputy spokesman for the Presidium of the German Football League are currently taking over the leadership of the DFB. Koch represents the DFB as a member of the UEFA Executive Committee, and Peters has recently been a member of the council of the world association FIFA. A new president is elected at an ordinary or extraordinary Bundestag. The state and regional leaders spoke out against an extraordinary meeting on Sunday, the next Bundestag would not take place until 2022.

Was Potsdam also about Koch? Yes, it was also about Koch and it was also about treasurer Stephan Osnabrügge, both of which can be assigned to the anti-cellar camp. They were given a secret vote of confidence, explained Vice President Ronny Zimmermann. Koch, head of the Bavarian Football Association and previously interim boss at the DFB, was initially the big winner in the power struggle with Keller. However, he also does not enjoy unreserved support: the vote of confidence was in favor of Koch with 21 yes, 13 no and three abstentions.

And what about Koch and the summer fairy tale? Koch has rejected the allegations made by former President Reinhard Grindel in relation to his role in researching questionable payments in connection with the 2006 World Cup. Grindel had said in a ZDF interview that Koch had known about the revelations of the news magazine “Der Spiegel” earlier than previously known, but had “not informed the Presidium or at least the President”. He was “very surprised”, said Grindel, “that Mr. Koch described his situation in such a way that he heard about the whole process for the first time” when Niersbach informed the Presidium at a conference. As a result, the chance was wasted “that we, as the DFB, could have actively clarified the matter before it was published and we could take appropriate measures. That would certainly have helped the credibility of the DFB a lot”.

What will happen to Keller’s great opponent at the DFB? Secretary General Friedrich Curtius has been a bitter opponent of Keller in the past few months, and the state and regional leaders have withdrawn his trust. Unlike Keller, Curtius cannot be asked to resign, the 44-year-old is under contract with the DFB as the highest full-time employee. Curtius is responsible, among other things, for the business operations of the DFB headquarters in Frankfurt, where he was said to have had a great deal of power. The DFL had already opposed the DFB general in January – since then, Koch has been sent to the meetings of the league.

What is actually going on with the DFB bosses? The top has been divided for a long time. For months the camps around Keller and Curtius have faced each other almost irreconcilably. This led to great resentment at the grassroots level, which numerous representatives of the state and regional associations expressed in a letter of protest before the meeting. Mutual accusations and discrediting information, which both factions have repeatedly passed on to the media in the past few weeks, caused the conflict between Keller and Curtius to boil up again and again. The peace announced in mid-January was also quickly revoked.

Is the DFB uncontrollable? Well, it works like that. Should Keller step down, he would be the third president in a row to stumble out of office. His predecessor, Grindel, was undoed by a gift from a Ukrainian oligarch. Its predecessor, in turn, fell over his role in the summer fairy tale affair. “If you want to kill someone for reasons of personnel policy, then it’s bad enough if you go to the media with indiscretions,” said Grindel in an interview published by ZDF on Friday evening: “But you always have to keep in mind that in the end yes everything sticks to the DFB and the association is badly damaged. ”

Why did Keller actually abuse Koch as “Freisler”? Well that is not known. What is known: Even during his time as President of SC Freiburg, Keller was considered a person who did not always have his emotions under control. There is talk of choleric attacks in several media outlets. He is said to have been loud at the DFB too. What can be ruled out, however, is that there are no racist or anti-Semitic ideas behind the attack. Keller has repeatedly and credibly positioned himself against it.

What is the role of the ethics committee? It is still unclear whether and how the DFB ethics committee will handle Keller’s Nazi settlement. The DFB president had called his vice cook “Freisler” in a presidium meeting and compared it with Roland Freisler, the chairman of the People’s Court under National Socialism. Keller then asked Koch for an apology, which he did not accept in a personal conversation on Sunday. According to information from the German Press Agency, Koch’s decision is important for the four-person ethics committee, which, according to the DFB description, “investigates all cases that damage the integrity and reputation of the DFB and its member associations, especially illegal and unethical behavior” should.

Can the ethics committee topple the basement? An ethics procedure against Keller could also be decisive, should the mud fight break out in the coming days. A DFB President cannot simply be recalled. Responsible would be the DFB board, which is made up of the members of the executive committee, the state and regional heads and twelve DFL representatives. “The board of directors is entitled to dismiss members of the presidium, board of directors and committee members in the event of a gross breach of duty or in the event of unworthiness with immediate effect from their work in the DFB by means of a written decision up to the next ordinary Bundestag”, says the statutes. After the conference in Potsdam, the state and regional leaders gave a clear verdict on the Nazi settlement: “Such a statement is completely unacceptable and makes us stunned.”

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