November 10 – Bernd Neuendorf has been re-elected as the president of the German FA, the DFB.
The boss of German football won his re-election unopposed at the governing body’s congress in Berlin, receiving the backing of all 253 voting delegates, including the state associations and the DFL Deutsche Fußball-Liga. Neuendorf also serves on the FIFA Council.
“We’ve used the past legislative period to stabilise and consolidate the DFB across the board – atmospherically, financially, in terms of content and sporting matters. The DFB has restored its reputation. We’re once again a reliable partner – for the DFL, for our state associations, for political institutions, for international federations and our commercial partners,” said Neuendorf.
Neuendorf (pictured left) came to power in 2022, months before the World Cup in Qatar where the German team covered their mouths at the World Cup to protest FIFA’s clampdown on armbands against discrimination. Neuendorf and the DFB have been less outspoken about the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia.
The Germans bid – together with the Netherlands and Belgium – for the 2027 Women’s World Cup but lost out against Brazil. They are bidding for the 2029 Women’s Euro with UEFA set to appoint the hosts on December 3.
At the DFB Congress, the representation of women took a tumble. In 2021, the DFB introduced its ‘Women in Football Strategy FF27’, with the benchmark that at least 30% of committee and full-time management positions should be held by women. The DFB reached that goal early in 2022 when five of the 15 Executive Committee members were women. That share fell to 18% this election, with only three women among the committee members.
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