3rd league
Braunschweig (dpa) – For the first time in 30 years, a woman is at the head of a German professional football club.
Nicole Kumpis was elected president of the third division club Eintracht Braunschweig at an extraordinary and virtual general meeting. With 472:411 votes, the board member of the German Red Cross Braunschweig-Salzgitter prevailed against the entrepreneur Axel Ditzinger.
“That was a trend-setting meeting. I’m really looking forward to the cooperation of two women on the Executive Committee,” said the 48-year-old after her election. The former national hockey player Bettina Heinicke was also elected as Vice President for the departments in the five-member executive committee, although she belonged to the team of the opposing candidate Ditzinger.
Tense situation
Kumpis is now the first female president in the 122-year history of the 1967 German champions and currently the only woman to lead one of the 56 clubs in the first three professional leagues. In 1986, the FDP politician Gisela Schwerdt was president of the then second division club Arminia Bielefeld for eight months. In 1991, TSV 1860 Munich was promoted from the Bayernliga to the 2nd Bundesliga for a year under club boss Liselotte Knecht.
Nevertheless, Kumpis declared that their election campaign was never about the gender issue. “For our team, it doesn’t matter that I’m a woman. And I haven’t played this card since the beginning of our campaign,” said the previous vice-president of the second division relegated team.
The background is the tense situation in the traditional club. Kumpis’ predecessor Christoph Bratmann did not receive enough votes for his re-election at the regular general meeting in November. Above all, the dissenting votes from the organized fan camp brought down the SPD politician.
Close choice
Eintracht is deeply divided after the second division relegations in 2018 and 2021, which is also shown by the narrow outcome of the election between Kumpis and Ditzinger. The former vice president relied on the votes of the fans. His focus was on the outsourced professional football company, he had already called for a separation from sports director Peter Vollmann in 2021 and also advocated “new impulses and new ideas” on Wednesday.
In her own words, Kumpis wants to bring the various camps back together and trusts in her team, among others, the long-standing CFO Rainer Cech (further Vice President Finance) and the former Eintracht professional Benjamin Kessel (new Vice President Football), who received the most votes in the presidential election candidate received.
“Democracy, diversity, communication and cohesion: That’s what I and my team stand for,” said Kumpis. So she would like to reunite the club and also approach the supporters of Ditzinger. “I am a very committed person, very clear and authentic in my communication. Even then or especially when communication becomes critical. I sit down with everyone at the table.”
There is no lack of big sporting goals either, as Kumpis clarified: “In the long term we want to establish ourselves in the second division and knock on the door of the first division with all courage.”