Penal order for ex-Werder coach
Vaccination pass scandal is getting more and more expensive to start with
02/24/2022, 4:39 p.m
The then coach of SV Werder Bremen was targeted by the public prosecutor’s office because of a fake vaccination card, the process cost the former Bundesliga professional his job. The DFB sentenced him to a fine and a ban, now the beginning collects an expensive penalty order.
Former Werder coach Markus Anfang has to pay a fine totaling 36,000 euros for using a fake vaccination card. At the request of the public prosecutor, the Bremen district court issued a penalty order for 90 daily rates of 400 euros each against the 47-year-old, the authority said. Beginning now has two weeks to appeal. If he does not do this, this decision would be final, but the former Bundesliga professional would not have a criminal record. A criminal record only applies to a fine of more than 90 daily rates or a prison sentence of more than three months.
On November 20, the Bremen health department initiated investigations against Beginning and his assistant coach Florian Junge because of the use of fake vaccination cards. Two days later, both resigned from their posts at second division soccer team Werder Bremen. In the course of the investigation, Beginning had admitted the use of the fake vaccination card. He also made a statement about the origin of the document, but the public prosecutor’s office is not disclosing it.
As early as January, the sports court of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball-Bund) suspended him for a year with retrospective effect from November 20 and sentenced him to a fine of 20,000 euros. This ban will be suspended on probation from June 10 until mid-2023.
A quick return would be possible
A penalty order was also issued against Junge in the public prosecutor’s proceedings. However, the authority did not give any details. The assistant coach was fined 3,000 euros and given a ten-month ban by the DFB sports court, which will also be suspended on probation from June 1st. This gives both early and youngsters the opportunity to take up a coaching job in Germany again next season.
The scandal was blown when Beginning and Young presented their vaccination cards to the health department in November in order to avoid quarantine as a contact person after a positive test with Werder professional Marco Friedl. The authorities noticed irregularities in the documents, so they reported the two trainers to the public prosecutor’s office. Beginning is said to have had an away game with his former club SV Darmstadt 98 in Würzburg on the day of his supposed first vaccination appointment in Cologne. The 47-year-old has now admitted to using a fake vaccination card.