The German Football Federation (DFB) on Saturday called on former DBF president Theo Zwanziger to quit FIFA because he no longer represents the interests of German soccer in the sport’s world governing body.
The German federation said that Zwanziger no longer represented the interests of German soccer after his “repeated public attacks against his successor as president, Wolfgang Niersbach, and the current DFB management.”
Zwanziger, who held the role of DBF president from 2006 to 2012, criticized his successor’s salary in an interview on Saturday.
Photo: AFP
The German federation in a statement blasted the comments as “intolerable” as they “called into question and discredited the excellent work of the president.”
“Since he does not adequately represent the interests of German football, the DFB calls on Dr Theo Zwanziger to resign from his position on the Executive Committee of FIFA,” the statement read.
“These public statements are totally unacceptable, moreover, during a World Cup, in which the players and the sport should be the focus,” Bundesliga president Reinhardt Rauball said.
Zwanziger, 69, held various DFB roles before taking over as president in 2006 after Germany hosted the World Cup of which he was vice president of the organizing committee.
Under his stewardship, Germany reached the final of Euro 2008 and came third at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
He resigned in March 2012 and was succeeded by Niersbach.
His mandate in FIFA runs until May next year.
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