The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

DFB - dispute between Fritz Keller and Friedrich Curtius: tactical tricks

2020-12-21T13:37:49.461Z


The German Football Association has had a troubled year - and there is no improvement in sight. The DFL is increasing pressure, but the conflict between President Keller and Secretary General Curtius continues to smolder.


Icon: enlarge

Rarely go in one direction: DFB General Secretary Friedrich Curtius and his President Fritz Keller

Photo: 

Arne Dedert / dpa

The fact that the German Football Association hires external consultants is nothing new.

Many agencies have earned a golden nose at the DFB.

President Fritz Keller is now trying again with outside help: "Perhaps the Christ Child can also have an effect that more calm comes in," he said on the "Hessischer Rundfunk".

Keller is currently doing several interviews in the media, and in an internal association paper he was finally advised to present himself in a public offensive "human, approachable and convincing".

The good news from the president does not seem to have got through to the DFB so far.

On the contrary: just before Christmas, the internal conflict in the world's largest football association intensified again.

The relationship between Keller and Secretary General Friedrich Curtius has been strained for months anyway.

In the slipstream of this dispute, the fronts between the amateur representatives and the German Football League have now hardened.

Without much warning, the DFL supervisory board chairman, Peter Peters, pushed forward in the »kicker« on Thursday and shot broad sides against the association.

Peters, who as the DFL representative also holds the office of DFB vice-president, had spoken of “a lack of cooperation at the top without any trust”, of “many indiscretions” and identified Curtius as the person responsible: “Actually, it's the job and clear responsibility of the general secretary as a link in the DFB headquarters to smoothly implement the jointly agreed presidium line.

Unfortunately, this no longer works.

I cannot imagine that this mistrust can be removed again. "

The DFL is increasing the pressure

A move that Peters, as a long-term close confidante, could hardly have made without the knowledge and approval of DFL boss Christian Seifert.

At his last press conference of the year, Seifert had already spoken in a similar tone of an "unworthy spectacle of disloyalty" in connection with the DFB.

Icon: enlarge

DFL supervisory board chairman Peter Peters

Photo: 

Thomas Böcker / dpa

A reproach that could, however, also be applied to Peters.

In October, the parties to the dispute in the association made a public declaration that they would resolve the existing dissonances in January.

Peter's contribution in "Kicker" has therefore been understood by many in the DFB as an affront.

One day later the association published a press release under the heading “Statement on statements by Peter Peters”, in which explicit reference was made to the October statement: “We are sticking to this agreement.

As 1st Vice President of the DFB, Peter Peters shares responsibility. «The eight signatories include the influential Vice Presidents Rainer Koch and Peter Frymuth and DFB Treasurer Stephan Osnabrügge.

All three are assigned to the Curtius camp.

It's a conflict that traces the front lines in the association quite well.

Curius has many supporters in the association itself.

On the other hand, Keller, who is already an outsider on the Otto-Fleck-Schneise, has alienated many in the association after just one year with his fickle management style.

However, he still enjoys the trust of the league, which is not surprising: As the former president of SC Freiburg, he has been rooted in the DFL for years.

Peters wants to join the Fifa committee

Peters, known for his clever tactics in the committees, quickly sided with Keller in the debate about the future of national coach Joachim Löw.

The long-standing CFO of FC Schalke also wants to use the trust of the president to back up his international ambitions: He is to move up as a German representative on the Fifa Council in April.

In addition, he already has the vote of the DFB Presidium, whether this will continue after his rude attack from the previous week is doubtful.

In the presidium, the amateur representatives with Koch at the top have a majority.

In this respect, he may well have harmed himself with his media offensive.

However, Koch is currently not in a strong position either.

The tax affair of the DFB is mainly blamed on him, so the public prosecutor heard him last week.

In addition, Koch is also speculating on an international job.

He is supposed to represent the DFB at Uefa.

Nevertheless, it has surprised some that Peters is now publicly positioning himself in this way - after all, critics also make him jointly responsible for the disastrous sporting and financial situation of FC Schalke, from which he only left in June after 16 years on the board.

It is sentences like the one from him from June in the Süddeutsche Zeitung that are falling on his feet: “It's not going downhill at Schalke - the opposite is the case.

Everything is prepared to get through the crisis.

Schalke remains a cleanly financed registered association that has created incredible values ​​as a company in recent years. "

After that one could have expected a certain humility from him, but Peters is already ambitiously betting on his career in the association.

"Hard decisions are required", the 58-year-old demanded in the "Kicker", and it is relatively clear what he is getting at.

Curtius should be replaced as general secretary or at least his influence should be curtailed.

Peters benefits from the fact that his opponent has not been at the DFB for months.

Several weeks ago, Curtius broke both elbows when he fell off the ladder and will not return to the association headquarters until the new year.

You could say: Peters currently has clear advantages when it comes to elbow use.

Icon: The mirror

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2020-12-21

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.