The basic contract between the DFL and the DFB expires in the summer. Negotiations on further cooperation are proving to be difficult. DFL boss Watzke criticizes the DFB.
DFL boss Hans-Joachim Watzke has warned the German Football Association (DFB) against excessive financial demands in the negotiations for a new basic contract and even threatened a break with the DFB in the event of failure.
“I mean it very seriously: the DFB demands exorbitantly more. Despite all the problems, we are willing to pay significantly more. But we are very far apart.”said the chairman of the supervisory board of the German Football League (DFL) in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”.
Watzke does not rule out going before the arbitral tribunal
The DFB currently receives 25 million euros annually from the DFL. From the summer, the association will demand significantly more money from the umbrella organization of the 36 professional clubs. If both sides cannot agree, Watzke does not rule out going to the arbitral tribunal. This would be from the point of view of the 63-year-old “A lasting damage to trust. I don’t know whether you will recover from that, you have to judge that in the DFB.”
Should it come to that, Watzke believes it would mean a break. “I’ve been trying hard for a year now to restore a partnership between DFB and DFL, the same applies to Bernd Neuendorf. But if we end up in court, I think: partnership and arbitration are mutually exclusive! Then this is the way to go partnership, then the attempt to get this little plant to flower again is permanently damaged”he said.
DFB in financial difficulties
The DFB is currently in financial difficulties after being revoked twice for several years because of tax affairs. According to Watzke, who is also DFB Vice President, the situation is dangerous. “Everyone has to understand that there is a considerable need for restructuring and make the right decisions,” he said. But one should not believe “that the Bundesliga is the fully comprehensive insurance for the mistakes of the DFB in the past”.
In the event of an escalation, the DFL could even get out of the basic contract that regulates the relationship between professional and amateur camps. But this is not what he meant. “That can only be the ultima ratio and nothing really worth striving for,” said Watzke.