After 16 years of Christian Seifert, she is now at the head of the German Football League: Donata Hopfen. A mammoth task awaits the long-time media manager and management consultant – also, but not only, because of Corona.
It went almost silently on the stage – the change at the top of the German Football League (DFL). “As of today we have a new managing director: Welcome to the DFL, Donata Hopfen! “The League Association welcomed its boss with this tweet. But who is the new strong woman in German football who could very soon play a significant role in view of the current Corona situation in Germany?
Last summer, the DFL had already presented hops as the soon-to-be boss after the previous incumbent Christian Seifert had already announced his departure for 2022 in October 2020. The supervisory board agreed with Seifert to terminate the contract prematurely; however, it should continue to be “still available in an advisory capacity” to the management if necessary in order to ensure a smooth transition.
Long history at Springer
Hopfen, so it was said in the announcement at the time, was now the “right personality” to lead the DFL into a “successful future”. You yourself look forward to the “challenges ahead” and “thank you for the trust”. So far, so good, the usual empty phrases.
You can hardly find anything about the 45-year-old on social networks. Hopfen took her first steps in the media business at the beginning of the millennium with the management consultancy Accenture, before closing in 2003 Axel Springer changed. She worked for the media group for 15 years, first as the person in charge of “Business Development” in the Electronic Media division, then as managing director of “Bild Digital” and, at the end of her Springer time, as chairwoman of the publishing house management at “Bild”. She herself describes the US media mogul Rupert Murdoch as her professional role model.
Hopfens new workplace: the DFL headquarters in Frankfurt. (Source: Jan Huebner / imago images)
In 2014, a jury from the specialist magazine “Horizont” named her “Media Woman of the Year”. The reasoning stated that Hopfen was a woman who “is largely responsible for the courageous and successful introduction of paid content at the Bild Group”.
Creating the balancing act between print and digital, one of the greatest challenges of a multimedia company like Springer, was one of her main areas of responsibility. At “Bild” she was considered to be someone who always believed in print – despite the year on year dwindling circulation. “Despite all the presence in the digital media, we are noticing that the headlines that we have in the newspaper play a very large role in the public’s perception,” she said in spring 2017. “Print is our DNA.”
Hopfen, who saw herself as a future sports journalist or sports marketing manager as a child, was also jointly responsible for the launch of the daily sports newspaper “Fußball Bild” in January 2017. The result, however, was sobering. Two years after the first edition, the paper was discontinued in December 2018 due to a lack of sales. At a time when Hopfen was long gone from Springer.
Hop throws down
In autumn 2017 she disembarked and, as CEO, was supposed to help set up the cross-industry data alliance “Verimi”. But in May 2018, just one month after the platform was launched, Hopfen disembarked again. Officially because of “different views in the strategic management of the company”. Hops are said to have demanded sole power. When that fails, she throws down.
This was followed by almost three years as a managing director and partner at the consulting company “BCG Digital Ventures”. “Having the courage to rethink things and then implement them consistently and sustainably is what drives me,” she is quoted in the company’s press release in 2019.
Gladbach against Bayern: With this game, the first half of the season was opened. The second half of the season should also start like this. (Source: Uwe Kraft / imago images)
She will now have to face this task at the DFL. There have been no public appearances or interviews in which she provides information about her goals and approach since the announcement of her new position. “Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga Just like the DFL, they enjoy an excellent reputation around the world, “she says in the official DFL announcement:” All of this must be preserved against the background of technological, social and media changes in the field of football – and at the same time, innovatively developed. “
But soon it could become their main task to maintain the status quo. The Bundesliga opener on Friday between FC Bayern and Borussia Monchengladbach stood due to the spreading Omicron variant on the brink. More and more corona cases in the clubs of the 36 professional teams from the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga could, as in the past two years, lead to game cancellations and rescheduling in a row.
Hops face a number of challenges
“I would have liked to hand over the league and the DFL as an organization to my successor Donata Hopfen, whom I really appreciate very much, so that she can concentrate completely on further development. Now she too will have to do corona management first, then it will the DFL fare no differently than restaurants, hairdressers or newspapers, “said Hopfens predecessor Seifert in November of the” Süddeutsche Zeitung “.
But hops are not only faced with a number of challenges due to the pandemic. There is the long-term feud with the German Football Association, with whom a new relationship of trust has to be built up and a new basic agreement on financial flows has to be negotiated. There are still unresolved exceptions to the 50 + 1 rule, which the Federal Cartel Office has been grappling with.
Christian Seifert: The long-time DFL boss supported his successor. (Source: Ulrich Hufnagel / imago images)
There is an exchange with fan representatives as part of the DFL task force “Future of Professional Football”, whose reform proposals Hops must meet. There is the international marketing of the Bundesliga, which recently collapsed from a financial point of view.
And the granting of German-language media rights (planned for spring 2023) would also fall within their area of responsibility, should Hopfen fulfill its contract, which runs until 2024. A mammoth program. But a pushable one? The future of German football is in their hands.
Watzke and Seifert support hops
“It doesn’t work, doesn’t exist,” she is said to have announced to the 400 DFL employees in a video conference. In the few public appearances, the 45-year-old appears very clear and focused. She expressly rejects the word “tough”. Hopping hardly takes place on social media. Twitter is not for her, she never felt at home with Snapchat either – at least she said in 2017. Still, she tries to always keep up with the trend.
“Skepticism is completely inappropriate. Give the woman a chance – just like me. She is a very good choice,” said ex-boss Seifert about his successor shortly before Christmas. And also the new DFL supervisory board boss Hans-Joachim Watzke, with whom Hopfen already met for a personal exchange, Hopfen strengthened his back and spoke of a “very positive conversation”. But he does not want to interfere in the operative business.
“It never gets boring with me,” Hopfen once said of himself. In view of the challenges ahead, she shouldn’t have to worry that she will suffer a fate of lack of irritation. There are currently too many construction sites in German football for that.
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