German Football Association
“No longer up to date”: Keller again criticizes the DFB
Follows up with his criticism of the DFB: Fritz Keller. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
Former association head Fritz Keller sharply criticizes the working conditions and structures of the German Football Association. He himself made “emotional mistakes” during his time in office, but has no regrets.
The 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 one’s own biography,” said the 66-year-old in an interview with the business magazine “netzwerk Südbaden” and added: “The person gets it “A position that you owe a favor to and not the person best suited to do it.”
“Not up to date anymore”
Stephan Grunwald is an exception. “For the first time there is a knowledgeable treasurer as full-time finance director,” said Keller. “The rest of the structure, according to my view of the DFB, is no longer up to date. An association that already had a turnover of 500 million euros in my time has to be managed sustainably. It’s not about officials. Another committee here, still a committee there. That doesn’t lead to speed, it slows everything down.”
Keller, who was also club boss of SC Freiburg for years, was DFB President from September 2019 to May 2021. He was forced to resign after calling then-Vice President Rainer Koch the name of a Nazi judge during a DFB meeting. In March 2022, Bernd Neuendorf succeeded Keller.
Questionable employee treatment
“I wanted to change a few things, I also tried to bring in a new culture. I may have naively overlooked a few things,” said Keller, looking back on his time as head of the association. “At the end, when I noticed that massive measures were being taken against employees, including using methods that weren’t clean, I didn’t feel good. I could no longer justify that to myself, to my employees, to my family. “
He “also saw great people at the DFB who didn’t let themselves be brought down, who withstood all the pressure and blackmail: that’s where true character shows,” Keller continued. “What else have I learned? To stop being so naive.”
He himself made “emotional mistakes, which mainly have to do with my self-control. But I don’t regret anything 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. Some of them kicked themselves out.” That could be an opportunity.