The supervisory board of the Hamburger SV has published new details on the allegations against former sports director Stefan Kuntz. In a written message on the club’s website it was said that recent statements made by Kuntz required a “correction”.
Three points are mentioned in the letter from the HSV supervisory board. The association has “credible evidence of serious breaches of duty” by Kuntz. The basis is the independent descriptions of several people. Both the deadlines applicable in such cases and “the responsibility for the employees who work for us” required consistent and quick action by the Supervisory Board.
According to HSV, the hearing was canceled by Kuntz’s lawyers
In addition, according to Kuntz’s own statements, the association informed Kuntz about the ongoing investigation on December 18th and informed his lawyers anonymously the following day which allegations were in the air at that time. Allegations that Kuntz was not given the opportunity to refute the allegations were “demonstrably untrue,” the supervisory board wrote. The HSV gave Kuntz’s lawyers several possible dates for a hearing. In some cases the proposals were not addressed, in other cases the hearing was “postponed or canceled”.
A hearing that was finally agreed on December 29th was also canceled the evening before, the supervisory board wrote. Kuntz announced that he was “no longer available for a hearing and would instead use the date to negotiate the termination agreement.” He himself was absent from the appointment. His new lawyers were offered to “re-disclose in detail the allegations that had been identified to date,” but they refused.
HSV further wrote that Kuntz had decided “of his own free will” to sign an agreement to terminate his contract. He had not previously been told that a hearing could “lead to the allegations becoming public.”
Contract surprisingly terminated at the end of the year
The termination of Kuntz’s contract with Hamburger SV was surprisingly announced on January 2nd. The reason given in a communication from the HSV was initially “family reasons”. Afterwards the reported Picture on Sunday However, Kuntz has been accused of sexual harassment by several women in the club. The HSV supervisory board then announced that the separation from Kuntz was related to allegations of alleged misconduct by the ex-professional.
Kuntz initially defended himself against the claims and media reports with a statement on his Instagram profile. “I firmly reject these allegations,” he wrote on January 11th. Last week he also commented in the South German newspaper. Here too, he rejected the allegations of five women, which, according to SZ information, involved verbal harassment, inappropriate touching and lewdness. Furthermore, Kuntz said loudly SZwhen he asked to be heard, he replied that the allegations in this case were being further investigated and that there was a risk that the public would find out about them.
In the now published statement, HSV writes that it is “regrettable that these public corrections have become necessary.” However, Kuntz’s breaches of duty identified by the club will neither be publicly announced nor will media reports on the case be commented on.
