Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Bayern boss under observation
Rummenigge is now fighting at Ceferin’s side
In the vehement and ultimate fight against the controversial Super League, German football will in future sit with three votes in the decision-making bodies at UEFA and FIFA. Above all, the eyes will be on Bayern boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had not even been elected to the Executive Committee of the European Football Union (UEFA) when he received homage on the big stage. The Bayern boss is a “fantastic” honorary chairman of the club association ECA, praised UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin effusively when he listed his most important remaining allies in the bitter battle against the Super League: “You are the true lovers of football. The fans of your clubs will be glad to have you guys. “
Germany gained a lot of influence in the most important bodies of world football on Tuesday. Not only was Rummenigge elected to the Executive Committee of the UEFA Congress as the ECA representative, DFB Vice President Rainer Koch was also confirmed for another four years. In addition, after a two-year vacancy, a German representative in Peter Peters moved into the council of the world association FIFA.
For UEFA, Germany has a particularly important role in the dispute with the Super League rebels. The German Football Association (DFB) and the German Football League (DFL) had already spoken out very clearly against the new competition, and now Ceferin has high hopes, especially in Rummenigge. Because Bayern Munich is the most prominent club that has not (yet) joined the Super League – and thus an enormous pound for UEFA.
The call of money is, of course, tempting
“We are not there because we do not want to be part of it,” stressed Rummenigge in the Italian newspaper “Corriere della Sera”: “We are not forgetting our responsibility to our fans and football in general”. Ceferin hopes that Rummenigge won’t stab him in the back like his predecessor Andrea Agnelli (Juventus Turin).
Because the call of the money is of course tempting: According to the news magazine “Spiegel”, Bayern and Borussia Dortmund are said to have received an invitation to the Super League. In general, the contract for the new elite competition stipulates that there should be two German participants every season. But BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke has already expressed his support.
Rummenigge, Koch and Peters all agree on the important question of the Super League. But it seems more than questionable whether the three German officials in the most important committees will follow the same line on other issues.
“In close coordination” with Keller
In the power struggle that has been simmering at the DFB for months, Koch and Peters are facing each other in different camps – Koch is an important supporter of General Secretary Friedrich Curtius, Peters is behind DFB President Fritz Keller. A reconciliation of the quarreling camps is not in sight. Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeneß recently asked for Rummenigge to be sent to the offices of UEFA and FIFA as DFB representative.
In a message, however, the DFB painted a unanimous picture. Both Koch and Peters were quoted there as wanting to exercise their offices “in close coordination” with Keller. And the DFB President emphasized the “elementary” importance of being represented at both FIFA and UEFA again.
Rummenigge and Koch can already use their influence in favor of German football this week. On Friday, the UEFA club will finally decide at a special meeting whether Munich will keep the four EURO games in the summer from June 11th to July 11th even without the required spectator guarantee. As an important confidante of Ceferins in the Super League dispute, Rummenigge could also have a stone in the board on the EM question.
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