The management of the parent club of Hannover 96 has made massive allegations against the German Football League (DFL) and called for a “new beginning in terms of personnel and structure” at the umbrella organization of the 36 German professional clubs. The DFL is endangering the existence of the 50+1 rule in German football “through deliberate inaction,” according to a statement from the board of directors and supervisory board published on Thursday.
The 50+1 rule limits the influence of external donors on clubs in the first and second divisions. It is intended to ensure that parent clubs such as Hannover 96 eV retain final decision-making power even if the professional area has been spun off into a corporation such as Hannover 96 GmbH & Co. KGaA. In Hanover, the club and the capital have been at loggerheads about this for years.
“Intransparent coordination”
This letter was triggered by the controversial vote on the entry of an investor into the DFL, which received exactly the required two-thirds majority of 24 yes votes at a general meeting in December. Hanover’s club management had instructed professional football director Martin Kind to vote against the investor’s entry.
However, the voting results and the public confessions of opponents suggest that Kind voted yes and thus helped the DFL plan gain the necessary majority. The 79-year-old himself refers to the secret vote and refuses to provide any information about his vote.
“The DFL had been aware of Martin Kind’s ongoing violations of instructions for over two and a half years and had neither stopped them nor ensured the right to issue instructions within the framework of its own vote,” criticize the board and supervisory board members of Hannover 96 eV. They accuse the DFL of “ “non-transparent voting” which enabled Kind to “vote in the desired interest”.
A comment from Daniel Theweleit Published/Updated: Recommendations: 12 Daniel Theweleit Published/Updated: Recommendations: 6 Daniel Theweleit, Cologne Published/Updated:
Football fans have been demonstrating in numerous German stadiums for weeks against the planned investor entry. Hannover 96’s second division game at Hamburger SV was even about to be canceled because 96 fans held up a poster with Martin Kind’s face in crosshairs. Protests are expected again at the next home game against SpVgg Greuther Fürth this Friday (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the second Bundesliga and on Sky).