Bundesliga bosses want strong dfb head – “more is needed”

The rapid search for a new DFB president is causing concern in the executive suites of bundesliga clubs. After bayern boss karl-heinz rummenigge, borussia dortmund’s managing director hans-joachim watzke has also spoken out with a critical undertone about the vacant top personnel position.

"At the very least, the vita must bring more to the table than an active fubball career. It just takes much, much more. We’re talking about the world’s biggest sports association," said borussia dortmund’s managing director hans-joachim watzke in a survey conducted by the deutsche presse-agentur.

Following the resignation of reinhard grindel in april due to moral lapses, a six-member commission of the DFB and DFL headed by rainer koch and reinhard rauball is jointly looking for a new head of the association. The candidate is to be announced on 21. To be presented in august. The new president is to be elected to office at the DFB’s national convention on 27 june. September. But even shortly before the deadline, no favorite emerges at all after some prominent cancellations.

"The new president must be the face of german soccer. A person with charisma, personality, charm and a football background," demanded schalke’s head of sports, jochen schneider. In the previous week, rummenigge had expressed his concern that the new head of the DFB could be "reduced to a grub-gott-august". Borussia monchengladbach’s sports director max eberl stressed that the future DFB president must have a "certain charisma that does justice to the social significance of soccer."

"I’m optimistic that we’ll achieve our goal on 21. August to be able to propose a candidate at the general meeting of the league and the conference of the regional and state associations," said interim president koch the previous week. A shortlist of names has been drawn up, the functionary said, without wanting to enter into a discussion about names.

"You have to be balanced, politically well-connected and have a really authentic connection to the amateur clubs. And that certainly shouldn’t consist of looking at the top league table three times a year in ‘kicker. That is a mammoth task! Someone is needed to balance this interface between professional and amateur soccer and this immensely broad sociopolitical task. I am very curious to see who the search committee will present," said watzke.

The DFB had actually planned to present its candidate at the end of july. According to media reports, the DFB received refusals from the former head of adidas and possible future president of bavaria, herbert hainer, and the former head of the supervisory board of commerzbank, klaus-peter muller. Immediately after grindel’s resignation, former national team players philipp lahm and christoph metzelder, as well as oliver kahn and rudi voller, were among those being considered for the job.

"The future DFB president should have a certain amount of experience in soccer and a good connection to the people involved in the bundesliga. He should be approachable and create a human climate. It’s important not only to represent soccer, but also to embody it," said fortuna dusseldorf coach friedhelm funkel.

Football background alone is no longer enough. In a reformed DFB structure, the president should no longer be responsible for executive power as an omnipotent functionary responsible for all details. It is envisaged that he will act as head of the supervisory board of DFB gmbh, i.E. Actually take on prasidial tasks rather than managing the day-to-day business.

In gerhard mayer-vorfelder, theo zwanziger, wolfgang niersbach and now grindel, the past four DFB chiefs left prematurely or not for various reasons – also because they got bogged down in their various official functions. "The new president of the dfb will be a strong person simply because the new structure of his or her duties will allow him or her to remain in office for a longer period of time," said koch.