The German Football Association (DFB) has elected former State Secretary and journalist Bernd Neuendorf as its new President by a large majority.

The previous President of the Middle Rhine Football Association prevailed in the first ballot for the top post in the DFB against Peter Peters, the long-standing Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the German Football League (DFL).

Michael Horini

Football correspondent Europe in Berlin.

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Neuendorf, the candidate for the amateurs, clearly won the secret ballot with 193:50 of the votes.

The clear success had already become apparent in advance.

In a strong application speech before the vote, Neuendorf already acted like the future president.

He already gave the motto of his presidency: "The world has changed, we have to change."

He received benevolent applause from the delegates, unlike Peters after a rather feeble speech.

He didn't even get all the votes from the pro camp.

After his sovereign election victory, Neuendorf thanked the delegates for the “broad approval”.

"I will tackle this task with great enthusiasm."

The election duel between Rainer Koch and Silke Sinning, the challenger to the long-standing president of the Bavarian and southern German association, caused tension in personnel issues at the DFB Bundestag.

In his application speech, Koch asked the delegates to confirm him in the office of DFB vice president – ​​or not to take part in the election.

Cracking defeat for Koch

Koch makes his personal details a test of the cohesion between professionals and amateurs that was previously invoked.

He got some whistles.

The result was not what he wanted either.

Koch lost with a bang: 68:163.

The result was the biggest surprise in recent years in the DFB - and a clear signal from the Bundestag to break new ground and end the Koch era.

At the beginning of his speech, Neuendorf took the delegates of the crisis-ridden association on a journey through time to the year 2032.

In ten years, the 60-year-old DFB newcomer saw the German men's and women's national teams among the best in the world again.

In his eyes, many boys and girls of different origins play on the country's football pitches, who are accompanied by qualified coaches - and next door people with and without disabilities.

"We don't talk about diversity, we live it." Neuendorf's new ideal German football world contrasted sharply with the presence of the DFB on Friday in the former German Bundestag.

For example, the previous DFB general secretary Friedrich Curtius and treasurer Stephan Osnabrügge, against whom the public prosecutor is investigating, were not exonerated by the DFB Bundestag for the period from 2019 to 2022.

At least not for aspects related to the investigation.

In his statement, Neuendorf made no bow to the association's gloomy past, which made him a candidate for the DFB presidency in the first place.

"That's why my first and most important message is: football must be the focus again, not the quarrels at the top of the association.

People are simply tired of constantly reading about quarrels and house searches, raids and investigations by the public prosecutor in connection with the DFB.

They turn away, are annoyed, they no longer feel represented.

They want a credible and trustworthy DFB.

They want a modern DFB.

They want an association that represents the interests of football powerfully.

That's what I stand for," said Neuendorf.

"And I want to add:

That was nothing less than a promise by the new DFB president to make the necessary changes within the association the yardstick of his three-year presidency.

Neuendorf's second message is: The DFB must take its political and social responsibility more seriously again.

“It is obvious that we have recently lacked access to politics.

We obviously don't have any clout," the former State Secretary (SPD) from North Rhine-Westphalia called out to the DFB delegates.

He also announced that in the relationship between the DFB and DFL he “wants to get back to a way of working that is characterized by mutual respect and trust”.

In this regard, Hans-Joachim Watzke, the new DFL supervisory board chairman and former DFB interim president, had previously called for improved cooperation between amateur and professional football in the future.

"If we continue to let the DFB and DFL race towards each other like two trains, then German football will lose dramatically," warned the managing director of Borussia Dortmund.

He had led the DFB for the past four weeks together with Rainer Koch, the previous 1st Vice President Amateurs.

"We have to pool our strengths and not destroy each other." The appearance and the image have not been good recently, says Watzke.

"There were also mistakes made.

That clearly needs to change.

If such a situation has arisen, it is not just one person or one side who is to blame," said Watzke.

Not least, the outgoing treasurer, but also Koch, who didn't want to know much about their own mistakes in recent years in their speech to the DFB Bundestag, should feel addressed.

Osnabrugge left the impression that the media and the authorities were ultimately responsible for the bad image of the association.

Stephan Grunwald, most recently head of the auditors of the North German Association, was elected as his successor.