After Keller's Nazi comparison: The DFB is heading for the final escalation

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It quickly got lonely around Fritz Keller.

Only one and a half years after a dream start without a dissenting vote, the DFB President has reached such a low point after a Nazi comparison that questions inevitably arise.

How long can Keller withstand public pressure?

And was the serious verbal derailment of one misstep too much that would make further cooperation in the permanently crisis-plagued and hopelessly divided management bodies of the German Football Association impossible with immediate effect?

Keller is currently ruling out a resignation and wants to stay in office at least until the DFB Bundestag is brought forward.

He probably hopes that the storm of criticism will soon subside.

The 64-year-old winemaker compared his vice-president Rainer Koch with Nazi judge Roland Freisler at a meeting of the presidium last Friday, according to reports from “bild.de” and “Der Spiegel”.

The DFB did not comment on details, but confirmed an apology from Keller.

Roland FREISLER (center), President of the People's Court, at a meeting in the 1940s

Source: pa / keystone

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For Keller, who has acted as a football reformer, the misstep is a severe blow that could cost him the trust and support of those who have supported him so far.

Several regional associations and the German Football League, which in the power struggle with Secretary General Friedrich Curtius are more likely to belong to the president's camp, condemned the statements in unison.

However, there were hardly any requests for resignation, which is less due to the severity of the statements and more to the overall situation of the DFB.

Many representatives certainly do not want the other side around Koch and Curtius to emerge victorious from the publicly and eagerly fought out duel.

The duo has long been responsible for the largest national sports association in the world and has always remained so when president after president stumbled at the top.

Difficult times: Fritz Keller's critics want to use the statement to put the winemaker off

Source: dpa / Patrick Seeger

For Curtius, who has a certain degree of power in the association's headquarters in Frankfurt, Keller's worst mistake so far was a kind of assist.

The general secretary reported the misconduct directly to the DFB ethics committee according to "Spiegel information" and followed up on Tuesday in a joint statement with treasurer Stephan Osnabrügge.

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They distance themselves “clearly” and have “great confidence” that the committee with the “decision will restore the credibility of the DFB”.

Curtius is unlikely to have a greater chance of getting rid of the president, who is no longer wanted, anytime soon.

Freisler, who died in 1945, with whom Keller compared fellow functionaries Koch in the session on Friday, was, as a participant in the Wannsee Conference, one of those responsible for the organization of the Holocaust and later president of the notorious People's Court, where he sentenced around 2,600 deaths, including those against Resistance group “White Rose” around Sophie Scholl.

From the bearer of hope to the problem case

Keller, who, as president of SC Freiburg, was seen as a great beacon of hope by professionals, amateurs and officials, is now threatened with a similar scandalous departure as his predecessors Wolfgang Niersbach and Reinhard Grindel, whose resignation was just two years ago.

As quietly and cleanly as Keller had imagined his clean-up work at the DFB, it was not before the derailment on Friday.

From bad to worse?

Fritz Keller succeeded Reinhard Grindel at the DFB, who had to vacate his post early

Source: dpa / Boris Roessler

When Fritz Walter's sponsored child started in autumn 2019 and immediately announced a general inventory, Deputy Koch had said: "It is time to show the football world that the DFB is a trustworthy partner and host of the 2024 European Championship." Instead: Further tax annoyance, constant power games, an ongoing dispute at the official level and now Keller's low point, which could ensure that the DFB and DFL could soon be the next convening of a presidential selection committee.