Axel Hellmann will extend his contract as CEO of Eintracht Frankfurt. The past season should particularly motivate the club’s most powerful creator. An old acquaintance is now the top candidate for the coaching position.
Axel Hellmann has made few public appearances in recent months. The CEO of the Hessian Bundesliga football club probably has so much more to say. One can only imagine how it must have rotated inside it, how the volcano bubbled and yet didn’t spew lava.
This season, especially this second half of the season, which was almost embarrassing, may have annoyed not only him, but especially him. Not because of the pure result, but due to the softer factors, due to the sloppiness that has crept into the team and the team behind it, the wildly talking coach Albert Riera, the internal chatter.
Hellmann Treaty will be extended by five years
That annoys people like Hellmann. On the one hand. On the other hand, it is in his nature to develop solutions. Repair, readjust, give the club a different direction. Things that Hellmann can do much better than many other Bundesliga managers. And who drive him. It is therefore no surprise that he will extend his contract by five years until the summer of 2031, as the Bild newspaper reported on Monday. The lawyer has been working in Frankfurt since 2001 and would have been active at Eintracht for 30 years in 2031.
Whether he will actually earn 2.5 million euros per year for this, as it is written in the tabloids, or a little less, as can be heard elsewhere – ultimately it doesn’t matter. Either way, Hellmann remains the most powerful mover and shaker at Eintracht Frankfurt and continues to be one of the most important in the league. The Frankfurt supervisory board must finally approve the Hellmann deal at the beginning of June. But there is no doubt about that.
“We’re not complete idiots”
Hellmann’s relationship with the committees is excellent. He would like to see chairman of the supervisory board Mathias Beck as club president beyond the fall. New elections are due in October. The other members of the supervisory board, such as the influential investor Hans Nolte, are also well-disposed towards the 54-year-old – and vice versa. Mister Eintracht, i.e. Hellmann, should continue to drive the club’s development forward and ensure that the past season only represents a small dent when you look at it later.
Hellmann recently made one of his few public appearances at the end of the season in a talk with Edelfan Henni Nachtsheim. There he spoke very openly about mistakes – by players, by coaches, by the club bosses Sports director Markus Krösche and him. And he said: “But everyone assumes that this isn’t the end of the story, how this season ends. We’re not complete idiots either. We’re not only going to experience a big change, but we’re also really going to want it this time.” The tone for the summer break was set.
What will happen to sports director Hardung?
A lot of things are being put to the test. Hellmann recently made a fiery appeal to employees at an internal meeting, it said Frankfurter Rundschau. Accordingly, he called for more sharpness in his daily work. The fact that there will be personnel changes is no secret and is also known to hr-sport.
The role of sports director Timmo Hardung has been viewed critically for a long time. How and whether things will continue with Hardung is not known. Licensed game director Christoph Preuß, athletic trainer Schahriar Bigdeli and potential coach Martin Daxl were also recently named as candidates for ax in various media reports. There have already been changes in the medical department.
Hütter is apparently the top candidate for the coaching position
Hellmann could well imagine an old acquaintance as a new coach. In any case, the differences that once existed with Adi Hütter after his departure have long since been resolved. The Austrian was already a guest at the professional camp in the spring at Eintracht’s invitation and stopped by in Frankfurt out of old ties. How Kicker and Wiesbadener Kurier unanimously reported on Monday that Hütter has now emerged as the top candidate to succeed Riera. However, according to information from the two media outlets and hr-sport, there is no announcement yet.
Last week, hr-sport reported that the Frankfurters were in contact with Hütter management. Basically, both sides find the idea of working together again charming. Hütter’s favorite full-throttle football and his authoritarian approach to dealing with the professionals fit Frankfurt’s requirements profile. Of course, the last word at Eintracht on this matter is not head boss Hellmann, but sports director Krösche. He is said to have recently had a conversation with Hütter in Mallorca.
