German football mourns Egidius Braun. The honorary president of the German Football Association (DFB) died on Wednesday night at the age of 97. In the entrepreneur, from 1992 to 2001 head of the largest individual sports association in the world, the DFB loses one of its outstanding personalities in the association’s 122-year history.
The social responsibility of football was particularly important to Braun. “Football is more than 1-0” was his motto. The Mexico Aid was launched by him after the 1986 World Cup, and the DFB Foundation Egidius Braun bears his name.
“Today is a sad day for all footballers in Germany and Europe,” said the new DFB President Bernd Neuendorf in a statement, “in Egidius Braun we are losing a special person who is committed to the possibilities of football for those in particular who need support and attention.”
Braun, former treasurer of the European Football Union (Uefa), used his Uefa network to ensure that Germany was awarded the 2006 World Cup when all eight European representatives on the Executive Committee of the world association Fifa for the German application voted in 2000 agreed.