Football: [describe event or game] - Martin Kind's case involving Hannover 96 will be decided by the Supreme Court in July.
The court case concerning the termination of Martin Kind as the managing director of Hannover 96, a second division football club, is set to conclude on July 16. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) made this announcement following an oral hearing in Karlsruhe on Tuesday. Previously, the Regional Court of Hanover had deemed Kind's termination invalid in 2022, and the Higher Regional Court of Celle turned down an appeal against this six months later.
During the early stages of the hearing, the Karlsruhe Senate shared their potential difference in opinion from the lower courts. The presiding judge stated that the dismissal was questionable.
Martin Kind, aged 79, serves as the managing director and majority shareholder of the professional football department. The 50+1 rule in German professional football is designed to safeguard that the parent association, not the financial side, holds the majority of votes in the professional football company with changes or dismissals.
To adhere to this principle, the managing director at Hannover 96 is assigned within the Management GmbH, which is separate from the financial side of Martin Kind, whereby 100% of it belongs to the parent association.
Referencing this, the board of directors of the e.V. dismissed Kind as the managing director of the Hannover 96 Management GmbH in July 2022. Both parties have been at odds for years. Kind managed to successfully defend himself against his dismissal in court, owing to the clubs and the financial side having signed the so-called Hannover-96 contract in 2019, which governs their interactions.
In this document, it specifies that alterations to the statutes of the Management GmbH and dismissal of a managing director can only transpire if the supervisory board of the Management GmbH concurs. The supervisory board comprises two voting members from each side - clubs and financial side.
The club side feels reassured following the hearing, stated Ralf Nestler, supervisory board chairman of Hannover 96 in Karlsruhe. "We feel reassured that the board of directors acted correctly in July 2022." The ramifications of a BGH ruling remain challenging to estimate before it is announced.
Kind voiced dissatisfaction post-hearing, remarking that "the whole operational level of development and the future" was being disregarded and that it focuses solely on legal matters. "I believe markets evolve differently and I perceive risks for the further development of 96."
The 50+1 rule garnered minimal attention in Karlsruhe on Tuesday. Both sides highlighted that this regulation was not a prime focus in the proceedings, and the Senate also did not allude to it in their introductory remarks.
Instead, the focus was primarily on whether the decision to dismiss Kind as managing director aligned with the nature of the GmbH and if it was unlawful. As the hearing wrapped up, the presiding judge reflected on the upcoming verdict: "There will be no tie."
