Berlin (dpa) – Union Berlin president Dirk Zingler has sharply criticized the German Football Federation (DFB) and its director Oliver Bierhoff for the path the national team has taken over the past years.
Zingler said that the “Die Mannschaft” branding and other activities were mainly done for television and business purposes, and that these negative developments need to be corrected because it also “has a negative impact on club football.”
“Unfortunately, our umbrella organization paints a catastrophic picture. Not only with personnel issues in the last few weeks and months, but simply through the path that was taken there,” Zingler told club TV in an interview published on Friday on their website.
“We have to give the German national team football back to the people.
“What happened there is a complete mistake for me, and I blame Oliver Bierhoff for that, who wanted to turn the German national team into a brand.”
The Union president also named the dealing with a 6-0 humiliation in Spain last month as a another sign of the rift and estrangement.
“There is no talk of what effect it actually has on football fans. It is discussed in terms of sport – and that basically shows me that some people at the DFB have completely lost touch to the actual football fan,” Zingler said.
He added he didn’t expect any of Union’s fans to embrace the national team in its current state and marketing.
“I cannot imagine that anyone who loves football here at the Alte Foersterei stadium would like to watch a game of the national team live at the moment. Because it has nothing to do with why they are football fans in the first place,” Zingler said.
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