German sports recently complained about inadequate lobbying in federal politics.

"Our interests have gotten under the wheels so far," summed up Christoph Niessen, Chairman of the Board of the State Sports Association of North Rhine-Westphalia, before the 16 LSB founded a joint office in Berlin.

"The DOSB must strengthen its voice in Berlin," demands its new CEO Torsten Burmester.

Last but not least, he, once employed in the Chancellery and Ministry of the Interior, wants to help end the absence of sport in the formation of political opinions.

Michael Reinsch

Correspondent for sports in Berlin.

  • Follow I follow

He felt it in the restrictions to combat the pandemic, in financial, health and family policy.

But there is nothing to be seen in the newly created lobby register of the German Bundestag, which has been mandatory since the beginning of March.

Among the 3212 stakeholders who registered by Wednesday, there is neither an office of the state sports federations nor the German Olympic Sports Federation.

More than thirty companies, associations, clubs and individuals who can be assigned to the sport are named in the register.

The biggest players are the German Football Association and the German Football League (DFL).

They give annual expenses for lobbying of 340,000 and 370,000 euros.

Nobody in German sport brings up more.

But compared to the Association of the Automobile Industry with 49 named lobbyists with a budget of 4.4 million euros, or the General Association of the Insurance Industry with 90 lobbyists and a financial scope of 15 million euros, even this seems trivial.

The DFL names three people as direct stakeholders.

In addition, the DFL is represented by the political consultancy RPP.

influence the formation of will

Of the 66 top associations of the DOSB, only six have registered, including football: aikido, sailing, gymnastics and, for climbing, the German Alpine Club and its youth organization.

The riders are also represented twice: with the German Equestrian Federation and its elite sport organization, the German Olympic Committee for Equestrian.

The eSports Federation Germany and the esport player foundation, the Bund Deutscher Sportschützen and the Deutscher Angelfischerverband, all of which are not members of the DOSB, also want to influence the decision-making process of the MPs.

Reinhard Grindel from the CDU, who resigned his Bundestag mandate when he became President of the German Football Association for three years in 2016, and the former Green politician Michael Vesper, who led the DOSB for eleven years as Chairman of the Board, are among the only 182 natural Individuals who have entered into the lobby register.

Both state that they work for large consulting firms;

Grindel for Interel Germany and Crist&Company, Vesper for Beust & Coll and the Verband Deutscher Galopp, of which he is President.

While Grindel Sport does not mention it in its portfolio, Vesper mentions the race betting tax in addition to popular and professional sport.

This was changed in December in the interest of the racing clubs.

Code not arrived on time

Teamsport Germany, the lobby organization for basketball, ice hockey, soccer, handball and volleyball, initiated aid for professional clubs amounting to 270 million euros last year.

She has also been registered since Monday.

The first letter with the activation code had not arrived.

It's similar with the DOSB.

The employee who made the entry and trained member organizations for entry in the lobby register apparently did not receive the upload code in time.

Now he is on vacation.

"Interest representatives had to register in principle by February 28 if they had already had contact with interest groups this year," writes the press office of the Bundestag.

"Missing information could constitute an administrative offense and be punished with a fine of up to 50,000 euros.

If the DOSB employee were to end his vacation tomorrow and log in to the register, he would be told that he still had about a month and a half to make his entry.

Of the 16 state sports associations, only Berlin, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Saarland have registered so far.

Since the LSB conference has no legal form, it cannot be registered.

The LSB Berlin, which holds the presidency and is applying for its extension, is slipping into the role of lobbyist with President Thomas Härtel and his leadership.

The effort is estimated at 15,000 euros.

Athletes from Germany and the International Paralympic Committee based in Bonn are also registered.