Club members punish him
New BVB president – but Watzke gets a lesson
November 23, 2025 – 7:06 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Hans-Joachim Watzke is the new president of Borussia Dortmund, but receives a weak result. Reconciliation with his predecessor takes place on stage.
Hans-Joachim Watzke has been elected president of Borussia Dortmund, but has received a clear lesson. The 66-year-old only received 59 percent of the votes at the club’s general meeting. Of the 238,000 members, only 4,476 took part in the election.
Watzke had previously been farewelled by Borussia Dortmund to great applause from the members present in the Westfalenhalle in 1951 after almost 21 years as managing director of BVB-Kapitalgesellschaft. “There’s a lot of sadness,” said Watzke. He was the election committee’s only candidate after incumbent President Reinhold Lunow withdrew his original candidacy.
At the general meeting there was a major public reconciliation between the former opponents. “Dear Reinhold Lunow: You always supported me and were there when we looked into the abyss. I would like to thank you very much for that today,” said Watzke.
Lunow reacted with emotion. “We have done a lot of things together. The fact that there have been difficulties recently, that we have been separated, was not necessarily our personal fault. It was also due to people around us who encouraged it. That was not necessary,” said the 72-year-old in tears and then fell into Watzke’s arms.
A public dispute broke out in the summer because of Lunow’s surprising candidacy. The fan department chairman Tobias Westerfellhaus spoke of “questionable turns in an election campaign that was ultimately not an election campaign” and received a lot of support for this. “These months have shown that our club urgently needs changes,” said Westerfellhaus.
Watzke’s election was delayed due to technical problems. The entire event therefore started an hour late. So that theoretically all members could vote digitally, the meeting took place in hybrid form for the first time. However, the technology initially went on strike, so the agenda was changed and individual items were brought forward without a vote.
The former BVB treasurer Watzke moved to the management of the corporation in 2005. During his term of office, BVB’s economic restructuring and sporting recovery took place with two championships, three cup victories and two final appearances in the Champions League.