Berlin, May 17 (Xinhua) -- German Football Association President Fer Keller published a resignation letter on his personal social media account and the official website of the Football Association on the 17th, announcing his resignation while painfully regretting the shortcomings of the Football Association.
Keller wrote in an open letter: "For the long-term interests of the German Football Association, I will now give up the position of President of the Football Association. I am fully responsible for my outrageous remarks at the meeting of the FA Presidency on 23 April. ”
On April 23, Keller compared FA Vice President Koch to Nazi judge Freisler at a meeting, causing an uproar. Since then, the presidents of the German federal states and local football associations have met twice to vote no confidence in Keller and ask him to resign. On 11 May, the DFB held a meeting of its presidium and decided to reorganize the leadership.
Keller said in the letter: "At the end of September 2019, I was elected president of the Football Association, and my appointment is based on trust, transparency and the implementation of collective leadership by the Football Association, in order to end the Football Association's 'one-word' management model and to reshape the unity and cooperation between professional football, amateur football and youth training. However, I have encountered great resistance in terms of the structural and modernization reforms of the FA and the implementation of commercial operations. ”
In 2015, then-FA president Nilsbach resigned after being embroiled in a bribery scandal at the 2006 World Cup. In 2019, the then president of the Football Association, Grindel, resigned due to problems such as accepting a watch and making a profit from part-time work in the Football Association's subsidiaries. Keller had high hopes at the beginning of his tenure.
"During my tenure, football has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting thousands of young athletes. I failed to gain the trust and support within the FA. I find that there are too many internal disputes motivated by personal interests. As President, I have been striving for transparency reforms. ”
Keller said his personal misnoissance had brought shame to the FA, but that resigning would not solve the underlying problem. "The FA must change and regain the trust of society. Leadership needs to renew personnel; strengthen trust-based management to accommodate different opinions; top-level management needs to be professionally reformed and new mechanisms are introduced to secure funding for amateur football and youth training. At the same time, all possible violations and misconduct are inspected by external and unhindered professionals or institutions. ”
"I was shocked that the passionate, dedicated employees who were passionate about the FA were involved in this dispute, and they were sometimes instrumentalized, which is completely inconsistent with my values as an entrepreneur. Recent concerns about uncertainty in the FA have spread, which is a disaster for the FA's management. Keller said.
Photo: Official website of the German Football Federation
Text Editor: Liu Ning
New Media Editor: Wang Haoyu
Proofreader: Yu Sihui
Issued: Shen Nan
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![Keller, president of the German Football Association, announced his resignation and called for reform of the German Football Association[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)