The most powerful woman in German professional football has been dethroned again after just 341 days! Donata Hopfen (46) and the six-member supervisory board of the German Football League (DFL) agreed on Wednesday evening to terminate the contract, which actually ran until December 31, 2024, after less than a year.
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Reason: Different ideas about the strategic orientation of the DFL. Curious: She announced her resignation via the Internet while the DFL Supervisory Board was meeting in Frankfurt. Even more curious: The post was deleted a short time later.
Hopfen explains in a DFL press release: “We have achieved a lot and initiated a lot in the last few months. We have developed a viable future strategy for German professional football, initiated large cooperations such as the one with the NFL and closed important gaps in marketing. The relationship with the DFB is now better than ever. I am grateful for the time and working with the clubs and my team.”
Hopfen was accused of rarely being at the DFL headquarters in Frankfurt. In addition, hops are said to have ignored the supervisory board of Bundesliga international GmbH when it came to realigning foreign marketing and did not provide sufficient information.
The relationship with predecessor Christian Seifert (53) was also considered burdened. In addition, there was a lack of stable smell and acceptance among the representatives of the 36 first and second division teams.
Curious: On her Linkedin profile she had previously announced: “I have agreed with the DFL supervisory board to end my contract by mutual agreement (…)” A little later her contribution disappeared again. Apparently she had published her contribution prematurely. Later that evening she published it again.
