“Reevaluate the situation”
New DFB boss makes old squads tremble
03/26/2022, 5:59 p.m
As expected, Bernd Neuendorf is elected the new DFB President. The election swatter for Vice President Rainer Koch, on the other hand, came as a surprise. He and Neuendorf’s defeated opponent represent German football in the highest bodies. That could change.
The current representation of the German Football Association in international committees is still a concern for the new DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. “My first priority is to lead the DFB in calm waters and not to think about what next position I want to take,” Neuendorf said in a “Spiegel” interview. “But one thing is undisputed: With regard to the upcoming European Championships in Germany in 2024 and for the application for the Women’s World Cup in 2027, we need a strong international representation.”
The DFB is represented by Peter Peters on the Council of World Association FIFA and by Rainer Koch on the Executive Committee of European Football Union UEFA. Both officials are elected in their respective international bodies until 2025, but suffered severe election defeats at the last DFB Bundestag in March. Both are therefore no longer on the DFB presidium. Koch has been Vice-President of the DFB since 2013, during which time he led the association three times on an interim basis. In March, however, the association’s delegates punished him surprisingly harshly: in the election for Vice President, he lost 68:163 votes to Silke Sinning. Sinning belonged to the team of the previously clearly inferior presidential candidate Peters.
“After the Bundestag we have to reassess this situation. Rainer Koch and Peter Peters, our two representatives, clearly lost in the votes and no longer hold office in the Presidium. Now we will discuss in the Presidium what will result from this,” said Neuendorf . The 60-year-old had won the presidential election against Peters.
In UEFA, regulations stipulate that members of the Executive Committee must be president or vice-president of their national association. “If a member no longer fulfills this requirement during his term of office, he may continue to hold the position of Executive Committee member for the remainder of his term of office unless his association asks UEFA to remove him from office,” the statutes state .