German Football Association - "No longer in keeping with the times": Keller again criticizes DFB
Former association president Fritz Keller has once again criticized the German Football Association (DFB).
"There is hardly anyone at the DFB who has ever managed a club. Positions are not decided by qualifications, but by your own biography," said the 66-year-old in an interview with the business magazine "netzwerk südbaden" and added: "The person who is owed a favor gets the job and not the person who is best suited for it."
"No longer in keeping with the times"
Stephan Grunwald is an exception. "For the first time, there is a knowledgeable treasurer as a full-time finance director," said Keller. "My view of the DFB is that the rest of the organization is no longer up to date. An association that already had a turnover of 500 million euros in my time must be managed sustainably. It's not about officials. Another committee here, another committee there. That doesn't lead to speed, it slows everything down."
Keller, who was also the club boss of SC Freiburg for many years, was DFB President from September 2019 to May 2021. He had to resign after calling the then vice president Rainer Koch the name of a Nazi judge during a DFB meeting. Bernd Neuendorf succeeded Keller in March 2022.
Questionable dealings with employees
"I wanted to change a few things, I also tried to bring in a new culture. In doing so, I may have naively overlooked a few things," said Keller looking back on his time as head of the association. "In the end, when I realized that massive action was being taken against employees, including using methods that were not clean, I didn't feel well. I could no longer justify this to myself, my employees or my family."
He had "also seen great people at the DFB who didn't let themselves be beaten down, who stood up to all the pressure and blackmail: That shows true character," Keller continued. "What else have I learned? To stop being so naive."
He himself had "made emotional mistakes that mainly had to do with my self-control. But I have no regrets because I was still able to leave something behind. Some of the protagonists who wanted to sweep a lot under the carpet in the past are no longer there. In some cases, they've conked themselves out." That could be an opportunity.
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- Despite Fritz Keller's criticisms, the German Football Association (DFB) still manages football clubs in Frankfurt and Mainz.
- Stephan Grunwald, who became the full-time finance director at the DFB during Fritz Keller's tenure, is praised for bringing a more updated approach to financial management in German soccer.
- Fritz Keller highlights the German soccer association's issue of employing personnel based on personal favoritism instead of qualifications, mentioning Stephen Grunwald as an exception.
- Although Fritz Keller had intentions to reform the DFB and introduce a new culture, he eventually resigned due to questionable dealings with employees and the use of unethical methods against them, as they faced massive backlash.
Source: www.stern.de
