Football No end in sight
DFB managing director compares fan protests to train drivers’ strike
Status: 09:00 a.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
The fan protests against investors in the German Football League are troubling clubs and players. This weekend there were again many, long and annoying interruptions in the game. This is now also a concern for the DFB. Sports director Rettig therefore makes an offer.
Former Bundesliga and DFL manager Andreas Rettig compared the fan protests against investor entry into the German Football League with the industrial action by the train drivers’ union at Deutsche Bahn. Protests are okay as long as they are not an end in themselves, said the current sports director of the German Football Association on Saturday evening in ZDF’s “Aktuelle Sportstudio”.
“It’s starting to tip over at the moment. That reminds me a bit of the GDL strike, where at some point you say: Now you have to come to the table. Such things are not decided on the track or on the running train, but in the hearing room. And I think that would be the right way,” explained the 60-year-old.
For weeks, the fan scene in the stadiums of the Bundesliga and the 2nd league has been protesting against investors’ entry into the DFL by throwing objects onto the field. As a result, there were some very long interruptions in play on Saturday.
DFL’s offer to talk is not well received in the fan scene
The DFL wants to collect one billion euros from a financial investor for a percentage share of the TV revenue. When the 36 professional clubs voted on the deal, the necessary two-thirds majority was only barely achieved. Since then, the voting behavior of Hanover’s majority shareholder Martin Kind, who was instructed by his club to vote against entry, has been under discussion. It is unclear whether his vote may have secured the necessary majority.
In Rettig’s opinion, the messy situation can only be solved through communication. To this end, he offers mediation through the association. “We have to come to the table. We at the DFB are also happy to come on board to provide support. I think that all sides have to move towards each other,” explained Rettig. The DFL’s offers for talks were not met with any approval in the fan scene. “I think now is actually the time to say, let’s come together,” Rettig said.
DFB official Rettig on Saturday evening in the “Sportstudio”
Those: zdf.de/Sportstudio
According to him, there are two levels to the conflict. On the one hand, the fans’ aversion to investors in German football and, on the other hand, the opacity of voting behavior. The latter is a point “I understand the excitement on the fan side”. The topic raises questions. In his opinion, it would be a violation of the 50+1 rule if Martin Kind did not follow the Hannover 96 club’s instructions to vote against the investor deal.
The 50+1 rule in football essentially means that the registered club must have at least 51 percent of the voting shares in a spun-off professional company.
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“If the EV tells the employed managing director that you have to make your own decision, then it is the spirit of 50+1 to follow that. We don’t know how Mr. Kind voted. But if he didn’t follow the club’s instructions, for me that’s a violation of 50+1.” And now the DFL has the salad.
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Rettig believes that the fans are so upset because of the nebulous aftermath of this vote: “I perceive the fan scene to swallow the toad of investor entry if it has the impression that the democratic process there is running smoothly. “
But according to Rettig, he doesn’t. He says: “I think Cologne’s proposal is a good one. Cologne wants to vote on releasing the DFL from the final authority for investor entry. And vote again with the assembly on the negotiated deal.”
