Investor dispute keeps German football in suspense: League boss appeals to fans: “Do not escalate further”

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Hans-Joachim Watzke, head of the DFL supervisory board, appealed to fans in the investor dispute. In view of the sometimes violent protests, he calls for de-escalation: “I would like to ask the fan scenes at this point not to push the point of escalation any further! Our offer to talk still stands,” the 64-year-old told Bild newspaper. Everyone must be aware of the “responsibility for German football. If you cancel a match, you do enormous damage to your own club.”

Fans have been protesting in the stadiums for weeks against the planned entry of an investor into German football. On Saturday this almost led to the match between Union Berlin and VfL Wolfsburg (1-0) being abandoned. In addition, the supporters of Hannover 96 showed a banner on Friday evening with the portrait of director Martin Kind in a crosshairs.

“I have no problem with the protests continuing, but the escalation cannot continue,” Watzke said. He sees Child in the Crosshairs as “a disgusting individual derailment. Something like that shouldn’t happen.”

Hannover-Zoff: Did the child vote against the wishes of his club?

In the secret ballot last December, 24 of the 36 professional clubs voted yes. The necessary two-thirds majority has just been achieved. The child plays a central role in this; he is said to have voted against his club’s instructions. “To this day I don’t know how Martin Kind voted. No one really knows,” Watzke said.

Background: Hanover’s president Kind has wanted to overturn the 50+1 rule in the Bundesliga for years to pave the way for investors. Meanwhile, Hannover went public with a statement saying that Kind had behaved contrary to the club’s wishes and that the league should therefore hold a new vote. “Only I know how I voted,” Kind told NDR Info on Thursday. It was unprofessional for other clubs to make public how they voted. Only then could it be understood that Kind was one of 24 yes votes in the two-thirds majority required for investor entry.

The DFL recently rejected the demand from Bundesliga clubs VfB Stuttgart and Union Berlin, among others. According to Sportschau, 1. FC Keulen is now also in favor of new elections.

There is one interested investor left

In any case, Watzke was open to a vote on the outcome of the negotiations with the last remaining candidate, CVC. The league’s executive committee has been tasked with striking an investor deal, he said, “but if we feel like the majority no longer wants that in March, we certainly won’t vote against their will.”

After the withdrawal of the financial company Blackstone – probably also a response from the company to the protest action in recent weeks – Watzke also emphasized that there will be “zero influence” in a collaboration for private equity company CVC. Zero! There will be no new kick-off times or anything like that with us,” he said. “They have accepted all our red lines and don’t want to reform our football in the slightest – we are responsible for that!” (AFP/dti)

Source : Blick