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Nazi scandal in the direction of Vice Koch: The air is getting thinner and thinner for Keller

2021-05-01T01:03:30.442Z


Fritz Keller is facing the end of the DFB. Since the first associations and the German football league publicly distance themselves from him, a resignation cannot be ruled out. 


Fritz Keller is facing the end of the DFB.

Since the first associations and the German football league publicly distance themselves from him, a resignation cannot be ruled out. 

Frankfurt / Main - The end for Fritz Keller has been prophesied many times in the past few weeks, but exactly 19 months after he took office, the air for the President of the German Football Association (DFB) is thinner than ever.

As a result of his verbal derailment, there are ever greater question marks behind further cooperation at the already hopelessly divided top of the association. 

Due to his Nazi comparison, Keller is hardly acceptable anymore, the pressure on the 64-year-old is growing - the first associations and the German Football League (DFL *) are moving away from him.

“We distance ourselves clearly and in every form from the statement and choice of words that DFB President Fritz Keller * in the direction of DFB Vice President Dr.

Rainer Koch made during the presidium meeting on April 23, "said a joint statement by the DFL representatives in the DFB presidium:" Such a statement is absolutely unacceptable. "

Presidium of the BFV: "Fritz Keller does not live up to his own demands"

Earlier, the presidium of the Bavarian Football Association (BFV) indirectly suggested that he resign. "Fritz Keller is disqualified, he continues to deepen the trenches and pursue polarization," said the BFV after a video conference without its President Koch on Tuesday: "With such behavior that crosses any boundaries and cannot be tolerated, he will be his does not meet my own requirements. "

However, Keller, who has been at the center of a power struggle at the head of the world's largest individual sports association for months, rejects a resignation - which he made clear with a football metaphor.

"In times of social turmoil, we as footballers should shake hands after my foul and give a common sign of reconciliation," said the DFB boss: "I'm pleased that Rainer Koch is ready to talk to us."

DFB President Fritz Keller on Nazi scandal: "I made a serious mistake"

Keller admitted that “with the remark in the board meeting last Friday to my 1st Vice President Dr. Rainer Koch made a serious mistake ”. “I assumed that he would immediately accept my apology, which I asked him in writing and over the phone. As his written answer to me yesterday showed, this assessment was wrong ", explained the DFB President:" I regret that my impression was different after my statement yesterday. "

Koch had previously explicitly contradicted Keller's original account, according to which he had already complied with his request for forgiveness.

Rather, Koch let the BFV inform him that he had "not yet accepted" the president's written apology, "because he would first like to deal with the entire process in a personal conversation with Fritz Keller after a certain amount of time".

According to the "Sport Bild", Koch only wants to decide whether he will accept the apology after a meeting with Keller on the weekend at a conference of the 21 regional associations in Potsdam.

The resignation of DFB President Fritz Keller would be the third in a row 

According to matching media reports, Keller had compared Koch with the Nazi judge Roland Freisler. Koch, who is a judge himself in his main occupation, is so hard hit by this that the apology can be accepted. The DFB, which has been plagued by the crisis for years, has not yet commented in detail on the processes that have allegedly already landed at the ethics committee of the association. However, the DFB * confirmed Keller's quote in the "Bild-Zeitung". "The comparison was completely inappropriate, especially with regard to the victims of National Socialism," said Keller: "I very much regret this and will choose my words wisely in the future."

It seems questionable whether Keller will be able to choose words as DFB boss in the future.

The presidium of the powerful South German Football Association (SFV), to which DFB Vice Ronny Zimmermann belongs, responded on Tuesday with “horror and complete incomprehension” to “the statements and the choice of words” Keller.

DFB President: If Fritz Keller throws down it would be the third resignation in a row

"Our President Dr Rainer Koch deserves respect, and we know that he is committed to the cause to secure amateur football," said the SFV: "Especially as a long-time presiding judge, it is completely absurd to even him to move in the vicinity of the highest representative of the unspeakable and inhuman arbitrary justice of the Third Reich ”.

Should Keller throw in the towel, he would be the third association boss in a row to declare his resignation.

Before Keller, Wolfgang Niersbach and Reinhard Grindel had left their posts prematurely.

DFB: Rainer Koch has not yet accepted Fritz Keller's apology 

The DFB has been in crisis mode since the start of the affair surrounding the 2006 World Cup.

Keller should have calmed the association down, but the opposite was the case.

A power struggle has been raging between him and the camp around Secretary General Friedrich Curtius for months.

In the process, spicy details are repeatedly made public, which both sides see in a bad light.

In order to make the top of the DFB able to act again, the state associations had recently intervened in the dispute.

From their ranks comes the proposal to convene an extraordinary Bundestag this summer in order to end the conflict through personnel decisions.

Former DFB President Theo Zwanziger (“I'm already stunned”) sees the German Football League (DFL) as having an obligation as well as the associations.

"The regional associations and the league association are now called upon to do something," said Zwanziger of the "Bild-Zeitung": "At the top of the DFB one has been friends with enmity for months, the DFB seems paralyzed."  

(sid)

Source: merkur

All sports articles on 2021-05-01

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