Rainer Koch, one of two interim presidents of the German Football Association (DFB), pointed out after the polyphonic and unanimous criticism of the appointment of a new head of the DFB ethics committee that the election in the presidium was “a completely correct process “Acted. “That was an absolutely correct choice. Neither we as the DFB Presidium nor I personally ensured that certain people should not be voted on, ”said Koch, whose behavior was at least the subject of an investigation by the ethics committee in its previous occupation under the leadership of lawyer Bernd Knobloch.
"It was a secret election of the highest DFB committee," said Koch of the German Press Agency, "in which even a Rainer Koch only has one vote of twelve." According to information from the FAZ, there were not just one, but two votes, carried out by the Presidium. Before Irina Kummert, the President of the Ethics Association of German Business, was elected as the new chairwoman by the twelve members of the Executive Committee with seven to five votes, the committee had to make sure in a vote whether such a vote should be made at all. Eight members voted for and four against.
Criticism of the castling, which was pushed through with the votes of the amateur representatives and which resulted in all members of the ethics committee withdrawing from their office with the exception of grief, came from politics, sponsors and the initiative “Football can do more ", Which had turned to the ethics committee of the DFB in view of Koch's dealings with the former referee Bibiana Steinhaus. Steinhaus is said to have been put under pressure by Koch not to participate in "football can do more".
Meanwhile, Hans-Joachim Eckert, the former chairman of the ethics committee of the International Football Association, said he was “not averse” to taking on a task in the DFB ethics committee. Eckert, who was removed from office in 2017 by FIFA President Infantino in a similar way as Knobloch is now at the DFB, called the procedure in the DFB Presidium "fatal".