At the DFB conference on Wednesday in Cologne, the regional and state association presidents want to close the piquant case involving DFB vice president Hermann Winkler as far as possible. “We are a football association and actually want to take care of football in the region. Mr. Winkler overlaid that a bit with his statements,” said Bernd Schultz, President of the Berlin Football Association, of the German Press Agency: “It’s important to me that we somehow get this topic cleared – with whatever consequences.”
How serious the personal consequences will be for Winkler, who had made disparaging remarks about the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky, remains to be seen. “There will be no request for deselection from us and no demand for resignation,” said Saxony-Anhalt’s association leader Holger Stahlknecht, who called Winkler’s statements “clumsy”: “The clear messages of the conference must be: restraint, be aware of the role model function, the Do not instrumentalize sport politically.”
Former CDU politician Winkler referred to Selenskyj as a “former Ukrainian actor” in an Instagram post on Sunday, without naming the Ukrainian president. On Monday, the president of the Northeast German Football Association announced via Facebook that he would not write the entry again. He apologized for “the irritation caused” and wrote that he condemned the aggression of Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, he does not personally agree with everything Zelenskyj does.
DFB boss Bernd Neuendorf had sharply condemned Winkler’s statements and announced further talks in a round with the regional and state association presidents. “The President has said he is making it an issue. Then we’ll wait for the further discussion,” said Schultz: “I don’t want to speculate what other colleagues think of it, I’ll let myself be surprised.” (dpa)
