German Football Association: DFB: A sporting, economic and political disappointment

It’s amazing that for every DFB Cup first round game, every Conference League qualifying game or every match in the Women’s Bundesliga, there is now at least one broadcaster that meets the demand for a live broadcast in Germany. Only nobody sent a signal from the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia – excluding the world association Fifa with its streaming offer. An eyewitness to the tournament was DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, who traveled to the port city of Jeddah primarily because of the Fifa Council meeting that was being held at the same time. The Düren native said he used the meeting of the highest decision-making body to meet his Saudi colleague Yasser Al-Misehal shortly before Christmas.

Neuendorf’s last business trip in 2023 illustrates once again the areas of tension that such a dual function brings with it. The fine art of diplomacy is necessary if, on the one hand, an official is to stand up for the beliefs proclaimed by his own association, and on the other hand, he also approves the constant desire for expansion in the FIFA Council. “We are not idle,” the 62-year-old assured recently at a media roundtable at the annual financial statements. Many questions on the DFB campus that day revolved around the Saudi Arabia case and Neuendorf’s position on Fifa President Gianni Infantino, who likes to lead the European associations through the ring with their values ​​that hinder his business.

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As is well known, the impresario from Switzerland used clever maneuvers to ensure that the 2034 World Cup would most likely be held in that monarchy on the Arabian Peninsula. And human rights are once again in danger of being forgotten at such a mega event. Can Germany change anything about this? At Neuendorf you can always hear that only the policy of small steps will lead to the goal. In any case, insisting on pure doctrine is useless in this network of power in the world of officials. Looking back, perhaps that is the most important lesson from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Anyone who swings the moral club in these Fifa areas designed to maximize profits will end up with bruises. And if the president, who was elected 20 months ago at the DFB Bundestag in Bonn, learned one thing from his time in the political world, first as a journalist and later as state secretary: you have to talk to people you don’t really like, too Not to lose influence.

Ergo, Neuendorf weighs every sentence on the subject: The DFB wants to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup together with the Netherlands and Belgium and must support the FIFA member associations, most of which are under Infantino’s thumb, in the vote at the congress in Bangkok by May 17, 2024 have convinced. This requires sensitivity. That’s why he says: »I dare to take the opportunity to form a differentiated picture. That’s why we’re talking to representatives of human rights organizations, governments, and even the Saudis themselves, to hear: ‘What exactly do you plan to do with the tournament?’ You’d have to look: What exactly are the Saudis writing in their application and how do we go about it if necessary to. I am sure that if we point out certain things with a strong European position, FIFA will listen to it too. Ultimately, the entire process is about ensuring that Fifa’s regulations and rules, which are very ambitious in many respects, are actually adhered to. What is meant are the assurances regarding the UN human rights report.

But one thing is on paper, the other is in practice. The access of the largest individual sports association in the world then quickly ends. And doesn’t the DFB have enough problems of its own, both economically and sportingly? The loss of 4.2 million euros at the end of last year would have been much more severe if special effects had not been included. The withdrawal of non-profit status for the years 2006, 2014 and 2015 alone led to a loss carryforward of 50 million euros, explains Neuendorf. In addition, the construction costs for the campus and the sporting failure of the national teams are ruining the balance sheet. After all, the DFB boss expects budgets to be almost balanced for both 2023 and 2024. “This is already a success; we managed these measures internally without expensive consultants.” But times remain challenging.

Things could have gone better in terms of football too. Sure, the U17 national team, which was crowned first European champion and then world champion in 2023 with a very multicultural composition with German virtues, was a ray of hope. But the fact that Hansi Flick was fired as national coach in the spring, and then Martina Voss-Tecklenburg had to be released in the fall after a botched World Cup in Australia and an undignified prank, represents the crises of meaning of both figureheads. Afterwards, saying goodbye to the academy director Tobias Haupt and then the sports director Joti Chatzialexiou in quick succession looked a lot like pawn sacrifices.

Neuendorf has now placed the sporting fortunes entirely in the hands of the out-of-the-box managing director Andreas Rettig, who had been noticed as a notorious critic in previous years. The analysis had shown that under the overly powerful Oliver Bierhoff, too much was focused on the senior men’s national team. Rettig “doesn’t have the same tasks as Bierhoff,” emphasizes Neuendorf, who sees elite football in the new organizational chart as “well positioned structurally and in terms of personnel.” Because no one doubts the integrity of the national team director Rudi Völler, the youth director Hannes Wolf and the women’s director Nia Künzer, who is only officially responsible from January 1st but has already been spotted at the internal Christmas party, a fruitful culture of togetherness could emerge if the protagonists are sufficiently present show the campus.

The evaluation of the coming year depends primarily on the performance of the male DFB selection, which under Julian Nagelsmann should not waste the international matches in France in March and against the Netherlands three days later. With the opening game of the European Championship against Scotland on June 14th at the latest, enthusiasm for football should spread across the country again. At least internationally, there seems to be great anticipation: UEFA received an impressive 30 million ticket applications, more than half from abroad – most of them from Turkey, Hungary, England, Albania and Croatia. And the head of the association is even more pleased about this: 16,000 volunteers will be needed at the event next summer, but there are almost ten times as many applications. Neuendorf sees this as further evidence of the “outstanding demand” for the 2024 European Championship.

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