Revolution in Lower Saxony: The lions from Braunschweig rely on a woman

Revolution in Lower Saxony
The lions from Braunschweig rely on a woman

Outside of Munich, the name of Liselotte Knecht has long been forgotten. In 1992 she was the last woman to head a professional club in German men’s football. Nicole Kumpis is changing that now. “Eintracht wrote history,” says the 48-year-old.

For the first time in 30 years, a woman is at the head of a German professional football club. Nicole Kumpis was elected president of the third division club Eintracht Braunschweig at an extraordinary and virtual general meeting on Wednesday evening. With 472:411 votes, the board member of the German Red Cross Braunschweig-Salzgitter prevailed against the entrepreneur Axel Ditzinger.

Liselotte Knecht was the last female president of professional football.

(Photo: imago images/Horst Galuschka)

“My cell phone didn’t stand still. It made bigger waves than I would have expected,” said the 48-year-old at a press conference the day after the election. Kumpis is now the first female president in the 122-year history of the 1967 German champions and currently the only woman to lead one of the 56 clubs in the first three professional leagues. In 1986, the FDP politician Gisela Schwerdt was president of the then second division club Arminia Bielefeld for eight months. In 1991, TSV 1860 Munich was promoted from the Bayernliga to the 2nd Bundesliga under club boss Liselotte Knecht. After her election, Kumpis also said: “Eintracht made history tonight.”

In her election campaign, Kumpis stated that it was never about the gender issue. “I said beforehand that it’s not important to me, but it sets an example and it has to be,” she said. “It’s difficult if we’re still asking ourselves in 2022 why there are hardly any women in such bodies.” In Braunschweig, there are now even two women on the executive committee, since the former national hockey player Bettina Heinicke was also elected vice president for the departments.

What buddies expect now

Kumpis’ choice can also be explained by a tense situation in the traditional club. Your predecessor Christoph Bratmann did not receive enough votes for his re-election at the regular general meeting in November. Above all, the dissenting votes from the organized fan camp brought down the SPD politician. Eintracht is deeply divided after the second division relegations in 2018 and 2021, which is also shown by the narrow outcome of the election between Kumpis and Ditzinger. The former vice president relied on the votes of the fans. His focus was on the outsourced professional football society, he called for a separation from sports director Peter Vollmann in 2021 and advocated “new impulses and new ideas” on Wednesday.

Kumpis would like to bring the different camps together again and trusts in her team, among others, the long-standing CFO Rainer Cech (further Vice President Finance) and the former Eintracht professional Benjamin Kessel (new Vice President Football), who received the most votes of all candidates in the presidential election. Her constructive approach prevailed in the end.

“Democracy, diversity, communication and cohesion: That’s what I and my team stand for,” said Kumpis. So she would like to reunite the club and also approach the supporters of Ditzinger. “I am a very committed person, very clear and authentic in my communication. Even then or especially when communication becomes critical. I sit down with everyone at the table.” There is also no lack of big sporting goals, as Kumpis made clear: “In the long term we want to establish ourselves in the second division and knock on the door of the first division with all courage.”

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