The DFB Bundestag has decided. Bernd Neuendorf is the new President of the German Football Association. Peter Peters will not. Neuendorf succeeds Fritz Keller, who resigned in May 2021. He should and wants to renew the association.
Bernd Neuendorf is the new President of the German Football Association. The 60-year-old prevailed in the election at the DFB Bundestag on Friday in Bonn with 193:50 votes against Peter Peters (59). Neuendorf came as a candidate for the influential amateur representatives, Peters was supported by professional football. The election in the World Conference Center became necessary after Fritz Keller resigned from office in May 2021.
“I would like to do everything to ensure that this association comes to rest again,” said Neuendorf in his application speech immediately before the election. “That we can say in a few years that the work was worth it.” His core message is: “Football must be the focus again, not the quarrels at the top of the association.”
People are “simply tired” of reading about scandals and house searches again and again. “They turn away, they are annoyed, they no longer feel represented,” said Neuendorf. “We need a new culture of togetherness. And I’m optimistic that we can do that.”
Four early resignations from the DFB since 2012
The crisis-experienced association has high hopes for Neuendorf. Four presidents have resigned early since 2012. Most recently, Keller had to take this step after he called Vice President Rainer Koch the name of a Nazi judge during a DFB meeting. It was the low point of months of wrangling. Since then, the association has been run by Koch and Peters on an interim basis.
Neuendorf is seen as a career changer in football. It was only in 2019 that he took over the presidency of the Mittelrhein Association. The SPD politician previously worked, among other things, as State Secretary in the Ministry for Family, Children, Youth, Culture and Sport of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. During his speech before the election, applause could be heard for a short time in the Bonn conference hall. Because there were two candidates for the first time, the vote was carried out in secret.
Neuendorf previously campaigned for a return to a trusting cooperation with the professional camp. “We have to keep the store together, there is no alternative to that,” he said, emphasizing: “We have great opportunities to advance football in our country in the coming years.”
