DFL - Ex-96-Chef Criticizes DFL-Management and Watzke
Martin Kind criticized the leadership of the German Football League (DFL) and its chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke heavily. "What has changed under Watzke in the last few years? I find little to nothing of that", said the entrepreneur recently dismissed as professional football chief of the second league team Hannover 96 in an interview with "Sport Bild". Kind has been in dispute with the DFL for years over the interpretation of the 50+1-Rule, which essentially means that investors cannot have a majority stake in the clubs.
Above all, the abandoned investment of an investor at the DFL still bothers the 80-year-old. "The negotiations with the investors were broken off without prior information. That's not professional, and through the break-off, the Ultras scene was conveyed: 'You just have to throw tennis balls, then we won't enforce our decision.'''
Due to fan actions that also led to numerous interruptions of league matches, the DFL presidium stopped the planned investor entry in February. "German professional football is in the midst of a crisis", Watzke, who is also the CEO of Borussia Dortmund, had stated.
Criticism also of Bundesliga officials
Kind generally sees little willingness for long-term thinking in the Bundesliga. "The people in charge of the clubs focus mainly on the current situation. The readiness for change and development is little expressed", he said in the "Sport Bild" interview. "It creates the impression that power, privileges, and income predominantly shape thinking."
Regarding the question of whether a negative functionary bubble had developed in the Bundesliga, he said: "From my point of view, yes."
Martin Kind, previously the professional football chief of Hannover 96 in the Second Bundesliga, expressed his discontent with the German Football League (DFL) and its chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke. Kind questioned the changes under Watzke's leadership and voiced his concerns about a failed investment deal with the DFL. He also criticized the lack of long-term thinking in German professional soccer, suggesting that power, privileges, and income drive decision-making. Kind further implied that a negative functionary bubble might exist within the Bundesliga.
Hannover, located in Lower Saxony, is one of the teams in the Second Bundesliga that Kind has been involved with. His criticisms extended to the leadership of the Bundesliga as a whole, questioning their readiness for change and development. His concerns are not unique, as Watzke, the CEO of Borussia Dortmund, had previously admitted that German professional football is in a crisis.
