Grindel also left the posts he held at UEFA and FIFA a few days after resigning as DFB president. From then on, both places for the DFB were lost for the time being. UEFA sent France’s Noel Le Graet to the FIFA Council – and they refused to give up the seat. The DFB had to wait until 2021 for a vacancy for Peters.
After Grindel’s resignation in 2019, a quick replacement was also not possible on the UEFA Executive Committee, but only at the next congress in March 2020. There Koch was then able to stand successfully for the remainder of Grindel’s term of office until 2021 and was re-elected from 2021 to 2025. For a long time, the DFB was without a voice in the two most powerful bodies in world football.
Application deadlines can cause difficulties
This time the situation is different. The DFB has a newly elected president, not a newly retired one. Since people are elected, Koch and Peters could basically remain in their offices. Both are elected until 2025. If Neuendorf as president, in contrast to his predecessor Fritz Keller, wants to take over the two offices again, he would first need an agreement with Koch and Peters on their resignations. Then he would at least have a short-term chance of a seat on the UEFA Executive Committee.
However, FIFA requires candidates for the FIFA Council to be announced three months before the UEFA Congress, which is scheduled for around six weeks on May 11 in Vienna. The DFB could face a longer waiting period here or Peters could be left in office for the time being. At UEFA there is only a two-month period, which according to the statutes “in certain circumstances” can be shortened.