May 18 – Confirmation has now been made that Fritz Keller (pictured) has officially resigned with immediate effect as president of the German Football Association after sparking a wave of criticism for comparing his colleague to a notorious Nazi judge.
Not for the first time a damning picture of the hierarchy of German football has been painted just a few weeks before the start of the Euros as Keller, like so many before him, fell on his sword, this time for likening his vice-president Rainer Koch to Roland Freisler, the infamous head of the Nazi party’s court in the 1940s.
Following a decisive meeting of a special tribunal set up to look into the case, Keller said he was stepping down to make way for a “deep-rooted and necessary restart” at the DFB.
“In doing so, I am taking personal responsibility for my gaffe at the Executive Committee meeting on April 23, 2021, which is to remain the sad low point of the DFB’s desolate leadership situation,” he said.
Keller is the fourth consecutive DFB president to be tarnished by scandal. He was regarded as a much-needed safe pair of hands when he took over in September 2019, after Reinhard Grindel was forced to step down for accepting a luxury watch as a gift from a Ukrainian businessman.
That followed the demise of both Wolfgang Niersbach and Theo Zwanziger who were both caught up in the infamous 2006 World Cup payment scandal.
“The DFB must change. It must regain its credibility, confidence in its integrity and performance,” said Keller, who also complained that he had repeatedly encountered “resistance and walls” within the organisation as he sought to “professionalise and modernise” its structures.
He said he had come to realise that “far too often it was about internal power fights, securing advantages, and working on one’s image in the public life.”
Keller isn’t the only senior figure quitting in the DFB’s latest upheaval. General Secretary Friedrich Curtius will also be leaving, with Koch and fellow vice president Peter Peters acting as interim presidents until early 2022 when the DFB holds its general meeting.
In addition to the boardroom changes, German head coach Joachim Löw, who has been in the job since 2006, recently announced that he will be leaving after this summer’s delayed European Championship.
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