Götze’s moment of genius, Schweinsteiger’s fighting spirit, the miracle of Belo Horizonte – scenes that are replayed often these days as 2014 draws to an end. The annual reviews in German TV all look back to that wonderful event in Brazil this summer.
Enough with the flashbacks. On Tuesday, DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach invited members of the media and TV stations to take a look into the future. After all, the DFB presidential board had just passed a ten-year plan in Weimar a couple of days earlier. In Frankfurt, Niersbach detailed the cornerstones in the extensive agenda for the upcoming decade. Germany’s fourth star shines bright even on murky winter days, but it shall not outshine anything. “Sitting back is not an option,” said Niersbach.
“It’s a plan that we discussed and decided on together with professional football representatives,” emphasised Niersbach at DFB Headquarters in the Otto-Fleck-Schneise. The agreement between association and league is an asset and market advantage to German football. “The chemistry is right,” confirms Niersbach.
Bid to host EURO 2024 and seat in FIFA ExCo
Together they will work on bringing the 2024 European Championship to Germany. The DFB decided in October 2013 that they would apply for the tournament finals in exactly ten years. UEFA could already decide by 2017 if Germany will get its first major men’s competition after 2006 and its first European Championship since 1988.
“Building new stadiums is not necessary,” said Niersbach. Contrary to the run up to the 2006 World Cup, Germany already has a formidable stadium infrastructure. “Maybe we’ll need to install a new video screen or do some re-painting, but that should be it,” joked the DFB president. Ten stadiums would host the 51 games. Nine grounds would stage five games each and one six.
Whether he will continue his work as a member in FIFA’s Executive Committee will be decided in Vienna this coming March. Niersbach is not yet ready to discuss concrete details, “after all, I have to be elected first.” In any case, the primary task in the next years for every member of football’s highest governing body is clear: “FIFA must keep improving its image. I would like to play my part in that as well.”
“Football must always remain affordable”
Construction on the new DFB’s Academy will begin in 2017 and the moving trucks will arrive on the scene in 2018. As the academy will provide exciting new prospects for the Association’s role in all of football, DFB president Niersbach trusts proven remedies during social engagements: “My predecessors, Egidius Braun and Theo Zwanziger, have left me a great inheritance.” DFB’s accomplishments in integration and with their annual Julius-Hirsch-Award are impressive. “Berlin knows what football can achieve here.” And since the World Cup boom could see a new record membership reached, as Niersbach predicted, DFB’s broad effect across the football pitch will continue to grow.
The re-launch of the online portal www.fussball.de, as a new home for amateur football and the extensive distribution of the multi award-winning campaign “Unsere Amateure. Echte Profis” (Our amateurs. Real professionals), make clear how much DFB have pushed amateur football forward in the past year. At least 65 clubs, but essentially all the small clubs in the country, can look forward to a special event next year: The DFB is sending the World Cup trophy on a tour throughout Germany. 2015 will be the year of the “Lap of Honour”, as well as of course the Women’s World Cup (in Canada) and the European U21 Championship (in the Czech Republic).
Götze’s moment of genius, Schweinsteiger’s fighting spirit, the miracle of Belo Horizonte – scenes that are replayed often these days as 2014 draws to an end. The annual reviews in German TV all look back to that wonderful event in Brazil this summer.
Enough with the flashbacks. On Tuesday, DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach invited members of the media and TV stations to take a look into the future. After all, the DFB presidential board had just passed a ten-year plan in Weimar a couple of days earlier. In Frankfurt, Niersbach detailed the cornerstones in the extensive agenda for the upcoming decade. Germany’s fourth star shines bright even on murky winter days, but it shall not outshine anything. “Sitting back is not an option,” said Niersbach.
“It’s a plan that we discussed and decided on together with professional football representatives,” emphasised Niersbach at DFB Headquarters in the Otto-Fleck-Schneise. The agreement between association and league is an asset and market advantage to German football. “The chemistry is right,” confirms Niersbach.
Bid to host EURO 2024 and seat in FIFA ExCo
Together they will work on bringing the 2024 European Championship to Germany. The DFB decided in October 2013 that they would apply for the tournament finals in exactly ten years. UEFA could already decide by 2017 if Germany will get its first major men’s competition after 2006 and its first European Championship since 1988.
“Building new stadiums is not necessary,” said Niersbach. Contrary to the run up to the 2006 World Cup, Germany already has a formidable stadium infrastructure. “Maybe we’ll need to install a new video screen or do some re-painting, but that should be it,” joked the DFB president. Ten stadiums would host the 51 games. Nine grounds would stage five games each and one six.
Whether he will continue his work as a member in FIFA’s Executive Committee will be decided in Vienna this coming March. Niersbach is not yet ready to discuss concrete details, “after all, I have to be elected first.” In any case, the primary task in the next years for every member of football’s highest governing body is clear: “FIFA must keep improving its image. I would like to play my part in that as well.”
“Football must always remain affordable”
Construction on the new DFB’s Academy will begin in 2017 and the moving trucks will arrive on the scene in 2018. As the academy will provide exciting new prospects for the Association’s role in all of football, DFB president Niersbach trusts proven remedies during social engagements: “My predecessors, Egidius Braun and Theo Zwanziger, have left me a great inheritance.” DFB’s accomplishments in integration and with their annual Julius-Hirsch-Award are impressive. “Berlin knows what football can achieve here.” And since the World Cup boom could see a new record membership reached, as Niersbach predicted, DFB’s broad effect across the football pitch will continue to grow.
The re-launch of the online portal www.fussball.de, as a new home for amateur football and the extensive distribution of the multi award-winning campaign “Unsere Amateure. Echte Profis” (Our amateurs. Real professionals), make clear how much DFB have pushed amateur football forward in the past year. At least 65 clubs, but essentially all the small clubs in the country, can look forward to a special event next year: The DFB is sending the World Cup trophy on a tour throughout Germany. 2015 will be the year of the “Lap of Honour”, as well as of course the Women’s World Cup (in Canada) and the European U21 Championship (in the Czech Republic).
The plan is in place and since stagnation means decline, there have been plenty of new ideas. Still, the DFB always makes sure that certain values are held. The average membership fee for a child in a football club is €3.50. “We transferred nine million euros to the regional associations in 2014 in order for them to finance their business and keep membership fees low,” explained Niersbach. “Football must always remain affordable,” emphasised the DFB president.
