Bierhoff successor without pressure
DFL supervisory board chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke emphasized that replacing Hansi Flick as national coach after the World Cup preliminary round was not a consideration for the DFB leadership. “A separation was not at all up for discussion,” said Watzke, who is also DFB Vice President and Managing Director of Borussia Dortmund, on Thursday at a press conference of the German Football League (DFL) in Neu-Isenburg. “It wasn’t all bad,” said Watzke about Germany’s appearance at the World Cup in Qatar.
In a round of three, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, Flick and Watzke undertook a World Cup analysis during a crisis meeting on Wednesday and agreed on further cooperation until the home European Championship in 2024. Watzke spoke of “a constructive discussion based on a lot of trust”.
Watzke declared the regulation of the successor to national team director Oliver Bierhoff to be a DFB task. In his opinion, there doesn’t have to be a rush job, even if he would find a “solution before Christmas nice”. It remains to be seen whether the “vacuum” that Bierhoff will leave behind after his retirement will be filled by one or two people. “In the end it’s a DFB decision,” said Watzke. Bierhoff was head of the DFB academy and also director for the national teams.
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Fredi Bobic, managing director of the Bundesliga club Hertha BSC, is hotly traded as a successor. The former national striker said in a media round on Wednesday: “I have a job, I feel very comfortable at Hertha”. Matthias Sammer, sporting director of the DFB from 2006 to 2012, is reportedly ready to return in an advisory role.
Watzke: 50+1 still under threat – “Confident” with a solution
At the press conference, Watzke also commented on what he saw as an acute “threat” to the 50+1 rule from the ongoing consultations with the Cartel Office. “That’s clear,” said the official, but he was “quite confident that we’ll be able to find a common solution.” The regulation, which only applies to German professional football, basically states that the decision-making majority must always remain with the parent club when investing. This is to prevent clubs from being completely sold, as is common in England or Italy, for example.
“We have investors, shareholders,” said Watzke. “But we still have the key in our hands, sitting in the driver’s seat. There’s just one thing we don’t want: someone saying, give me the car key and you take the bus now.” Every investor who wants to give money has a say – but not “the car key”.
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The Bundeskartellamt classified the 50+1 rule in 2021 as harmless in terms of sports policy, but criticized the three exceptions for TSG 1899 Hoffenheim with majority owner Dietmar Hopp and the company-controlled clubs Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg. Since then, the clarification process has been ongoing.
“That’s where worldviews meet,” Watzke said in principle to the debate and referred to the club culture in Germany. The feeling of just being a “customer” doesn’t go with it. “I think the attitude to life is affected.” Society “does not have that many common denominators, we don’t have to fool ourselves”. In the case of a joint solution with the cartel office, it would be more difficult to “attack” 50+1, said Watzke. “If someone wants it.” In recent years, Martin Kind from Hannover 96 has fought against the regulation.
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