National team
DFB areas of tension for the 1000th anniversary
Takes the DFB team to task: director Rudi Völler. photo
© Uwe Anspach/dpa
Football needs to be the focus again. That’s what it said after the Qatar debacle. Now the DFB-Elf is playing their anniversary game against the Ukraine in Bremen. Sport-political distraction is unavoidable.
The legend of the German football “Kaiser” and the puddle sticks to Bremen like tar to an old barrel in the port.
It is all the more astonishing that the former Werder striker Rudi Völler, who is so receptive to anecdotes, in his function as DFB sports director, did not also remember Franz Beckenbauer’s involuntary step into a water hole at the DFB press conference before the national team’s big anniversary international match against Ukraine remembered the parking lot in front of the Weser Stadium.
Compared to the many subsequent DFB sport-political squabbles in recent years, Beckenbauer’s wet foot was just a trifle with potential for jokes. Allegedly, that’s why Bremen didn’t get any World Cup games in 2006. So far, so bad for the Hanseatic city.
Jubilee against Ukraine
When the national team plays the 1000th international match in their history on Monday (6 p.m. / ZDF), it is not only the opponent Ukraine that is causing political background noise, which should be avoided at all costs after the Qatar disaster. The return to Bremen after more than eleven years also harbors potential for conflict in view of the still unresolved legal dispute between Bremen politicians and the German Football League over the assumption of police costs for football games.
It was not for nothing that association president Bernd Neuendorf explained in his first statement what it was all about. The DFB no longer wants to “ban” Bremen. The football-loving region should be emotionally picked up for the home European Championship 2024. All of Germany should be able to look forward to the next summer fairy tale.
In Bremen, however, the football conflict is still good for partisan clinches, which also fall back on the DFB. “It is a sporting victory that the national soccer team is playing in Bremen again after many years,” said Bremen Mayor Andreas Bovenschulte (SPD) of the German Press Agency. Despite the joy of the international match, the ranks of the opposition reminded of the legal dispute. “I don’t see that the dispute has been healed,” said Marco Lübke, spokesman for domestic affairs for the CDU parliamentary group in the citizenship.
End of the “Ice Age”
Bremen’s interior senator Ulrich Mäurer (SPD), who became the major opponent of the football associations, sees an end to the “ice age” “heralded” by the former DFB officials. But he also emphasized that he would remain firm on the matter. “We won the legal dispute up to the highest instances. If the DFL now also wants to go to the Federal Constitutional Court, then we will meet again there,” said Mäurer. Neuendorf wants to see all legal issues excluded, at least on Monday.
That sounds like political headlines again. These should be avoided in the run-up to the home EM 2024. As national coach, Hansi Flick wants to find his way out of the sporting DFB crisis as calmly as possible. To be on the safe side, Völler made it clear that sport had priority. Flick should be allowed to complete a real EM test against Ukraine and not a socio-political show. “They will give everything and so will we,” said Völler, dismissing the impression of a friendly game even emphasized by Neuendorf. “Others are trained for politics,” said national coach Flick.
The DFB recently felt how complicated the Ukraine issue is, apart from the laudable symbolism of peace and fundraising, after the highly controversial statements made by its Vice President Hermann Winkler on social networks. As a Berlin tourist, Saxony’s football boss mocked the restrictions imposed by the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. A few words are enough to divert the focus from the sporty. This was actually one of the Qatar teachings.
Haven’t been to Bremen for a long time
The DFB could have had it easier. A game against a well-known opponent at the association’s headquarters in Frankfurt or at the place where it was founded in Leipzig would have been possible and appropriate for the event. Brazil, for example, will play their June tests in Europe against Guinea and Senegal. Germany’s debut opponent Switzerland, like Ukraine, won’t play in the European Championship qualifiers until the following Friday.
The last goal for Germany at the Weser Stadium was scored by Claudemir Jerônimo Barreto, better known as Cacau. An indication that Bremen has not had an international match for a long time. After the 2-1 draw against France on February 29, 2012, Bremen was banned by the DFB. Neuendorf already tried the verbal balancing act when announcing the date.
“For the DFB, Bremen belongs on the football map – regardless of different opinions with the Senate on individual political issues,” said the 61-year-old. Big football is obviously not possible without politics. Before the summer vacation, Flick can prepare for two more European Championship tests in Warsaw against Poland (June 16) and in Gelsenkirchen against Colombia (June 20) from Tuesday, with the greatest possible concentration on football then at the latest.