Massive criticism
“Loss of trust”: Ex-President condemns DFB fees
09/26/2025 – 2:29 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
There is criticism before the DFB Bundestag with the planned re -election of President Bernd Neuendorf. It is about changes in remuneration practice.
Actually, the re-election of Ernerer and Refanator Bernd Neuendorf as President should be celebrated at the upcoming Bundestag of the German Football Association (DFB). But the association did the invoice without the critics listed by Neuendorf’s predecessors.
“What is happening there is a loss of trust. These are things that are no longer going in our society,” said Fritz Keller of the “Frankfurter Rundschau”: “I cannot supervise myself, that’s for all logic.”
At the DFB meeting on November 7, it is to be decided whether the independent remuneration committee is delivering. In the future, the compliance officer could determine how much time the presidium members set for their work. The criticism of this: Instead of more independent, someone should set the financial course that is anything but independent as the association’s employee.
The DFB does not want to accept this. “If the DFB Bundestag agreed to the application of the DFB Presidium, the compliance officer of the DFB would in future determine the temporal reference value of the Presidium members as the basis for determining the amount of remuneration, but the final decision-making authority on the amount of the remuneration remained at the remuneration committee,” the association said to the sports information service.
However, this “temporal reference value” plays the central role. The fee of the presidium members is based on the diets of the members of the Bundestag, but the actual effort of the officials is decisive. A minimum of 1.5 days a week is set – which corresponds to a monthly remuneration of around 5,000 euros.
In the past, the remuneration committee led the debates with those presidium members who claimed more days a week and thus more money. It is not uncommon for it to be twice of 5,000 euros. The fact that the definition of the working days should now do a association employee not only causes great resentment at Keller.
A prominent member of the remuneration committee reacted to the DFB plans with sarcasm. “It is the presidium’s wish to proceed. I have to accept that. The Presidium wants to relieve us. That is great,” said the long-time Bundesliga manager Heribert Bruchhagen of the Frankfurter Rundschau. He thinks it “all the more wonderful that we no longer have to lead these debates”.
Criticism also comes from a different side. “Instead of strengthening independent committees, the DFB would move central decisions to the main office. That would be a step backwards when it comes to independent control,” said sports rights Paul Lambertz to the “kicker”. The “question” must therefore be asked why there must be a body like the remuneration committee “still has to exist” in the future.