Friday, May 21, 2021
“Without respect”
Next cellar smack from the top of the DFB
With the departure of Fritz Keller as president, the anger in the top of the DFB is far from settled: A few days after Keller’s resignation, one of his prominent opponents violently steps in.
The outgoing treasurer of the German Football Association (DFB), Stephan Osnabrügge, has attacked the resigned President Fritz Keller because of his administration. In addition to the image of Keller as “an absolutely positive person with whom one can spend wonderful times in society, there was a second one,” said the 50-year-old in an interview with the “Generalanzeiger” published in Bonn (Saturday).
“This is the image of the patriarch who does not do things in a team, who interferes in all topics regardless of responsibilities, obviously not understanding that he is not giving positive impulses, but destructive; and above all, who does not stand in front of the organization, in front of the people, but is extremely focused on himself and his external image, “said Osnabrügge. Like Vice President Rainer Koch and General Secretary Friedrich Curtius, the treasurer is one of Keller’s opponents. Koch and Osnabrügge do not want to stand for re-election at the next DFB Bundestag in 2022, Curtius is negotiating a dissolution agreement with the DFB.
An association as a “restructuring case”
With his resignation, Keller had drawn the consequences of a Nazi statement. The former president of SC Freiburg had called Koch “Freisler”. Roland Freisler was chairman of the People’s Court under National Socialism. According to Osnabrügge, the resigned DFB President led the association “without respect for responsibilities and without respect for people”. The treasurer also complained: “And that he did not accept or respect the organization he headed – and this is not a gang of criminals, but a wonderful organization. These are people who work for a good cause.”
As announced, Keller resigned as President of the DFB last Monday. “I am personally taking responsibility for my derailment in the presidium meeting on April 23, 2021, which should remain the sad low point of the desolate leadership situation of the DFB”, it says in an official announcement. In it, Keller emphasizes that the association was a “case of restructuring” when he took up his post. But his goal to “restore credibility, confidence in his integrity and performance” has failed. “In every phase […] I encountered resistance and walls within the DFB. “
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