Ahen the new DFB President Bernd Neuendorf had just taken his seat again after his acceptance speech, the next election act at the German Football Association (DFB) was on the agenda. Rainer Koch, perhaps the association’s most influential football official in recent years, had to face a contest vote. He competed against Silke Sinning, the candidate from Hesse, who had opposed her own state association.
She had joined the team of Peter Peters, the other presidential candidate, against strong opposition from numerous amateur representatives. Peters suffered a clear defeat in the presidential election on Friday against Neuendorf. He only got 50 votes, Neuendorf got 193. A confident victory for the DFB newcomer against the long-standing multi-functionary. This seemed to point the way ahead: the amateur representatives, with around two-thirds of the votes, would get their candidates through.
Mo. – Fr. at 4 p.m.; Sa. – So. at 6 p.m.
SIGN IN
The duel between Koch and Sinning had been awaited with some excitement. It could be tight for Koch, it said among delegates. This has been talked about time and again in recent years. But the controversial 1st DFB Vice President Amateurs, against whose re-election to the DFB Presidium this week the former DFB Presidents Keller, Grindel and Zwanziger had campaigned, had nevertheless repeatedly secured the necessary majorities in the past. Koch was always one step ahead of his opponents.
This time he finally got the bill from their point of view. One that nobody expected: Koch lost his vote with a bang – 68:163. The Koch era in the DFB presidium has come to a spectacular end.
Watzke: “More new beginnings are hardly possible”
“Actually, everything has changed. There was always a bit of dispute that there was a new beginning,” said Hans-Joachim Watzke after the far-reaching changes in the DFB. The new chairman of the supervisory board of the German Football League (DFL) was elected in Bonn as the other 1st DFB vice president alongside Ronny Zimmermann. “More new beginnings are hardly possible. There is a new President, new 1st Vice Presidents, a new Treasurer, a new Vice President for Legal Affairs,” said Watzke. In the past week, Koch has done a lot to ensure that the Bundestag was harmonious between professionals and amateurs. On his own account, however, he had apparently misjudged the mood completely.
Bernd Neuendorf (left) and Peter Peters before the election at the DFB Bundestag in Bonn.
:
Image: EPA
The delegates had already taken cool notice of his statement of accounts, and he aroused resistance with his candidate speech. Koch bluntly asked the delegates to confirm him in the office of DFB vice president – or not to take part in the election. He explained his personal details as a test of the previously invoked new cohesion between professionals and amateurs. Koch received whistles. When the result of the secret ballot was announced, there was an incredulous silence in the hall. After the coup that the DFB delegates treated themselves to, Silke Sinning was almost speechless during her acceptance speech. The DFB is now faced with the problem that its two representatives in UEFA and FIFA, Koch and Peters, only play a subordinate role in the DFB.
