DFB: General Secretary and Treasurer call for the ethics committee to intervene

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DFB President Fritz Keller has come under massive criticism

Photo: Federico Gambarini / dpa

After the Nazi comparison by DFB President Fritz Keller, the power struggle in the association goes into the next round: DFB General Secretary Friedrich Curtius and Treasurer Stephan Osnabrügge called Keller's statements in a joint declaration "unacceptable and not to be tolerated".

Now the ethics committee of the DFB has to take over the case.

"We have great confidence that this decision will restore the credibility of the DFB."

Curtius and Osnabrugge responded to the "Freisler" call from Keller, who had insulted his Vice Rainer Koch in a DFB presidium meeting last Friday. As President of the People's Court, the Nazi judge Roland Freisler was responsible for thousands of death sentences against opponents of the regime. Three days later, Keller apologized to Koch for his derailment, but at the same time tried to smooth things over with the false reference that Koch had "the size" to accept the apology; for that he, Keller, is very grateful to his vice-president.

In fact, Koch announced through his spokesman that it had not yet been said whether he would accept the apology.

He does not want to discuss this with Keller until the coming weekend.

The topic should also be why Keller initially did not apologize to Koch, but only after DER SPIEGEL confronted him with his Freisler statement on Monday.

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DFB Vice Rainer Koch

Photo: Bongarts / Getty Images

In the joint declaration by Curtius and Osnabrügge it is said: »We distance ourselves clearly and in all forms from the statements that DFB President Fritz Keller towards DFB Vice President Dr.

Rainer Koch during the presidium meeting on April 23, 2021. “Koch, a judge at the Higher Regional Court by profession, in relation to a“ person who, like no one else, stood for supporting the unjust state of the Third Reich by perverting the law , is unacceptable and therefore we condemn it in the strongest possible way «.

The DFB stands for social values ​​and forgives the Julius-Hirsch in memory of the national player who was murdered in Auschwitz.

No thought of resigning

In the presidium meeting on Friday, Keller was furious that the case of his office manager Samy Hamama, who had been dismissed against Keller's will, had been discussed in another DFB round without Hamama's lawyer. When Koch made a statement on this, von Keller used the word "Freisler". Then Koch is said to have turned to Keller and asked what he meant by that. Thereupon, Keller responded with an excuse: he had an acquaintance named Freisler.

In addition to Koch, Curtius and Osnabrugge had also heard the statement, but did not react immediately. Curtius then did so in a written report to the ethics committee of the DFB and also referred to the witness Osnabrügge. According to SPIEGEL information, there was then another contact between Keller and Koch, without Keller having apologized. This only changed on Monday after a request from SPIEGEL. “Sometimes words fall in controversy that shouldn't and shouldn't fall. The comparison was completely inappropriate, especially with regard to the victims of National Socialism. «He regrets this very much and will» choose his words wisely in future «.

At the same time, he made it clear that he is apparently not thinking of resigning. According to the “Bild” newspaper, Keller said: “I made a mistake, but I will finish the clean-up work for which I was brought to the DFB and elected with 100 percent of the votes in the Bundestag.” Whether he would follow this course can hold out, could now depend not only on the ethics committee, but also on the behavior of his vice cook. The Bavarian Football Association, headed by Koch, called the Keller statement "completely unacceptable".