Chancellor puts pressure on the DFB: "It's something political"
Created: 08/09/2022Updated: 08/09/2022 15:44
Exchanged views on "Equal Pay" at the DFB: Olaf Scholz and Bernd Neuendorff.
© Sebastian Gollnow/dpa
The energy crisis and the EM 2024 in Germany were also topics, but the Chancellor's visit to the German Football Association was of course about the bonuses for the women's national team.
Frankfurt/M.
- When Olaf Scholz entered the new DFB campus, the large German soccer players shone above him - on the LED wall in the foyer.
Only nine days after the lost European Championship final in Wembley with his consoling cabin speech, the Federal Chancellor visited the association's headquarters in Frankfurt.
With his push for "equal pay", i.e. equal payment for the women's and men's national team, the SPD politician took a step forward.
Neuendorf for internal debate
Association President Bernd Neuendorf announced a debate in the German Football Association on the harmonization of premiums.
"I am at least willing to talk to the representatives of the senior national teams in our committees about whether our bonus system, which has grown over decades, is still up to date (...) and whether it can also be adjusted if necessary," said Neuendorf after the round of talks with Scholz, DFB Managing Director Oliver Bierhoff and Vice President Celia Sasic.
"I think it's something political, so it makes sense to discuss the same bonuses," said Scholz after the hour-long tour and discussion with the association officials.
The Chancellor got involved in the discussion during the women's European Championship in England and demanded the same prize money for men and women in the national teams via Twitter: "It's 2022. Women and men should be paid equally."
Women with record bonuses - but still less
The DFB women each received EUR 30,000 for their second place after the 2-1 defeat in the final against England on July 31st.
There would have been 60,000 euros for the title.
The men would each have received prize money of 400,000 euros if they triumphed at the 2021 European Championship.
The next performance bonuses for national players from the association have to be negotiated before the World Cup in Qatar (21 November to 18 December).
For women, the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will take place from July 20 to August 20, 2023.
Neuendorf emphasized that the DFB was “by no means backwards” on this topic and referred to the record bonuses for women that were suspended this year.
It must also be “acknowledged that, despite the same activity, the markets are still very different”.
After the Scholz claim, Bierhoff also repeatedly referred to the much higher income of the men's team.
Voss-Tecklenburg wants harmonization
National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg explained at the weekend in an interview with "Heute im Stadion" on Bayern 1: "We said we want to have equal play first, that we have better structures, that we have talent justice, that all girls can play football.”
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Voss-Tecklenburg, who is on vacation and was not in Frankfurt on Tuesday, still has a clear opinion on the bonuses: “I would like to see an equalization, so maybe a little less for men and a little more for women.
Maybe someday for the same title that men and women achieve, also the same money.”
It could be exactly in this direction if the DFB is now negotiating with the respective national teams about the World Cup bonuses.
Basically, during his flying visit to Frankfurt, Scholz advocated that women's football "can be promoted across the board and also at the top" after the euphoria of the European Championship.
dpa
