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The office of VfB Stuttgart
Photo: imago sportfotodienst / imago images / Sportfoto Rudel
Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart has to pay a fine of 300,000 euros for violating data protection.
Baden-Württemberg's data protection officer, Stefan Brink, justified this penalty on Wednesday with a "negligent breach of data protection accountability" in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
The data protection officer announced that his investigations were concluded.
The VfB accepted the conclusion of the procedure and waived further legal remedies, as announced by the first division.
The club asked its members and fans "to apologize for the incidents in the past" and announced that they would take a stand again next Monday.
The data affair and its processing have been a burden for VfB for months and are considered central issues in the power struggle between CEO Thomas Hitzlsperger and President Claus Vogt.
Between 2016 and 2018, the club is said to have repeatedly passed on tens of thousands of member data to third parties - among other things, to promote the outsourcing of the professional department, which was decided in summer 2017.
The law firm Esecon was also commissioned to investigate the affair.
Brink described the VfB's “willingness to cooperate” as “unusual” and praised it.
"Even if we were not able to fully examine all publicly discussed processes with a view to the statute of limitations, the result that has now been mutually agreed is convincing," said Brink: "In addition to the noticeable fine, the VfB ensures considerable organizational and technical improvements in terms of data protection."
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ara / dpa