Leverkusen (dpa) – Rudi Völler sees German football and its league better than their reputation and does not fear alienation from the fans.
“Basically, I think that football is made worse than it is, especially here in Germany,” said the 1990 world champion, who said goodbye on Saturday after 21 years in a leading position as managing director of Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen, in an interview with ” WAZ”.
“Last weekend, the interiors of so many stadiums were occupied by fans. I didn’t have the feeling that these were demonstrations against football, did they?” “In the early days of the pandemic, many comments were written that the spectators would not come back, that they would have gotten used to it. The opposite is the case,” he assured: “No matter where I look: the stadiums are full. The people of Frankfurt go to Barcelona with 30,000 people. Football is still very important here.”
He “couldn’t do anything with talk of “new competition” from American football, for example. I got up with my boys one night for the Super Bowl. The best thing about it was the halftime show with Jennifer Lopez, the rest was cruel for me, there are my feet fell asleep,” said Völler: “Yes, the younger generation is watching, even if the NFL is going to play in Munich soon. But not week after week. We also have to protect our Bundesliga.”