Followed up by Alfred Draxler: hop away! The gentlemen among themselves again … | Sports

BVB boss Aki Watzke has a hot Wednesday ahead of him.

In the morning he will advise on the future of Hansi Flick in his function as DFB Vice President. In the afternoon as chairman of the supervisory board of the German Football League about the dismissal of Donata Hopfen (46).

The DFL boss (before that, among other things, manager at the BILD group) has not even stayed in her post for a year since January 1st. And that’s not just because of the oversized footsteps left by her predecessor Christian Seifert (2005 – 2021).

Hops entered with two handicaps: She had no stable odor. And: She is a woman. The only one front row in the men’s business of football. And then even at the top of the DFL.

It would have been an interesting project. But did she even have a chance from the start?

Already at the very first session there was irritation. Hopfen explained on the subject of “increasing media revenues” that one had to discuss whether the cameras should be allowed closer to the players, maybe even behind the scenes. Motto: If you want more, you have to give more. Even then the first turned away, sniffing.

Default set: “She’s supposed to get the money. We’ll do the rest.”

Donata Hopfen was a media manager and digital consultant before her DFL office

Photo: WITTERS

She is accused of not having moved to the DFL headquarters in Frankfurt, but commuting to her family (she has six-year-old twins) in Berlin.

The sticking point was the issue of foreign marketing, which for the Bundesliga has fallen well below 200 million euros in revenue.

The English Premier League collects more than tenfold. “We sell ourselves far below value,” complained Leverkusen’s managing director Fernando Carro.

Leverkusen of all places! The most boring championship fight in the world (with 10 Bayern titles in a row) and the lack of absolute superstars – who really still wants to see the Bundesliga in South America or Asia?

It escalated when the managing director of “Bundesliga International” resigned and Hopfen presented a successor without having informed the supervisory board sufficiently beforehand.

In a “kicker” interview at the end of October, she was asked whether she would get enough support from the Bundesliga. Her answer: “More is always possible!” Then she probably already knew that it was over.

It remains to be seen whether this is good for the Bundesliga. External impulses are now being reduced again. The poor state of the DFB and the bad performance of the national team at the World Cup in Qatar show where this can lead.

As has been heard, Frankfurt’s board spokesman Axel Hellmann and Freiburg’s CFO Oliver Leki are acting as Hopfen’s successors on an interim basis. Then you would be among yourself again!

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