Germany’s football is looking for support
The unusual crisis silence of FC Bayern
12/09/2022, 2:16 p.m
The bosses of FC Bayern are acting unusually calmly in view of the major football crises in Germany. CEO Oliver Kahn maintains his contacts in Qatar and only just reacts to a tip from Dortmund. A model from the year 2000 is discussed.
With soft piano music, Oliver Kahn sat with Hassan al-Thawadi in the lobby of the monstrous hotel palace in Lusail, a few kilometers from the golden final stadium. Only the cream-colored curtains blocked the view of the Arabian Gulf. Bayern Munich’s CEO and Qatar’s World Cup boss apparently had a lot to talk about today, Friday, at the meeting of the Association of Top European Clubs (ECA). The successor to Oliver Bierhoff in the German Football Association or Donata Hopfen in the German Football League is unlikely to have been of any importance in Kahn’s talks with al-Thawadi.
In the Advent crisis, Bavaria’s silence on the burning issues is surprising. In comparable cases, the industry leader had wanted to be the first to exit in German football, and of course also in his own interest. The communication after the World Cup debacle in Qatar and the change in leadership at the top of the DFL was left to Borussia Dortmund’s managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke, who was unaccustomed to willingly, who, because of the abundance of offices at DFL and DFB, relocated several appointments to the same hotel on the outskirts of Frankfurt .
FC Bayern takes responsibility – but how?
At his press conference, Watzke was not without tips against the ever-overpowering rival from Munich. “The easiest situation to get involved, especially at the DFL, is to run for office. That helps. The simplest, direct, most uncomplicated solution would be for Oliver Kahn to run for the presidency. I would personally be very concerned about that look forward to,” he said.
At his meeting with al-Thawadi, Kahn’s thoughts weren’t really about Dortmund’s friendly request for more league commitment. With the controversial Qatar sponsorship, Bayern have their own issue in the Gulf. A brief and somewhat snappy reply to Watzke came via the “Bild” newspaper: “I have a very good relationship with Aki Watzke, we exchange views on all important topics. Of course, FC Bayern will take responsibility for the German in this difficult phase Take over football. It can’t be about anything else now,” Kahn promised. And by the way: “But how we do it and what it looks like in the end should be left to FC Bayern.”
Failure of the DFB team is the big issue
The restructuring of the DFL management after Donata Hopfen’s departure is an important issue, but nothing that concerns football fans as much as the failure of the national team in Qatar. But there has also been moderate silence from the operational Bavarian leadership around Kahn. The elders, such as Honorary President Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a friend of national coach Hansi Flick, are also holding back. In the follow-up discussion about Bierhoff, a Dortmund name was placed early on in BVB consultant Matthias Sammer.
It was very different at the beginning of the millennium. There, too, football Germany was on the ground after a disastrous EM 2000 and Rummenigge became the head of a so-called task force national team, with which the Bundesliga clubs wanted to accompany the crisis DFB organizationally in the reconstruction. Now people are remembering this instrument, even if a clear demand for structural help, for example for the job definition of a successor to DFB director Bierhoff, is not yet audible. There are also offers from a prominent ex-Bayern.
Lahm is happy to provide expertise
Honorary captain Philipp Lahm has offered his help – even if only on request. “My main task is to be tournament director. It is clear that I have expertise in football through my life and I am with the DFB. That’s why I’m happy to make my expertise in football available,” said the chief organizer of the home EM 2024 at a media event in Leipzig when asked whether he would be involved in a kind of “think tank” for the reorganization of the national team.
On Thursday, the head of the DFL supervisory board and DFB vice president Watzke indicated that there could be a kind of new task force if the DFB so desired. “If at some point the DFB has the feeling that we have to ask a few experienced people for advice and want to institutionalize that out of themselves, that is certainly a way of thinking, but Bernd Neuendorf has to decide that with his people,” said Watzke. There will be no push by the professional clubs. “I rule out the fact that we, as the DFL, set up something ourselves and then basically play know-it-alls without the DFB asking us to do so,” emphasized the football multi-functionary.
Watzke expects that DFB President Neuendorf will comment on the developments after the early end of the World Cup in Qatar, the separation from Bierhoff and the continuation of the work of national coach Flick before Christmas. “Bernd Neuendorf will certainly stand up,” said Watzke. According to reports, an appointment is planned for next week. Most recently, Neuendorf made a statement shortly before departing from Qatar on Friday last week. The other personnel decisions were communicated by notification. “I would have done the same thing. In the first two or three days of disappointment, you can destroy a lot more with every sentence you say than you can ever build up,” said Watzke.