Bayern CEO slams DFB president over his use of Twitter

Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge used an interview published in the SportBild weekly on Wednesday to accuse Reinhard Grindel, president of the German football association (DFB) of populism.

"Fundamentally I have a good relationship with Mr. Grindel. But he has a tendency towards populism in an effort to win public applause," he said. "This may have to do with the fact that he doesn't have a background in football but comes from the world of politics."

Rummenigge also criticized the way Grindel uses Twitter, saying that by making quick-fire pronouncments online, the DFB president sometimes caused confusion among the entire German footballing community.

"This was also the case with the (Mesut) Özil photo with (Turkish President Recep Tayyip) Erdogan: The picture was out for 10 minutes and already Grindel had chimed in."

Grindel and the DFB have been widely criticized for their handling of the Özil affair, which culminated in the Arsenal midfielder resigning from the German national team. However, Rummenigge was vague about whether Grindel should remain president of the DFB.

Pulling together for Euro 2024

"Now, in the next few weeks, it will be important to pull together so that Germany can win the right to host the European championship in 2024. That would help German football a lot," he said, suggesting it could give it a similar boost as hosting the World Cup did in 2006.

Germany is competing against Turkey for the right to host Euro 2024. The UEFA Executive Committee is to meet on September 27 to decide in a vote which of the two will host the tournament.

The SportBild interview wasn't the first time that Rummenigge has taken aim at the DFB. Last month he accused the DFB of being a bunch of "amateurs" – and he repeated this assertion in SportBild.

"The DFB is made up of 21 regional associations. They have always been amateurs," he said. "However, we used to have professionals at the top of the DFB, people like Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder or Wolfgang Niersbach. We need people who know about professional football in the presidency."

'Fable' of racism

Mesut Özil didn't escape Rummenigge's criticism either.

"Please: he has not been criticized because he is of Turkish heritage," Rummenigge said, referring to remarks made by Grindel and national team general manager Oliver Bierhoff after Germany were eliminated from the World Cup in Russia at the group stage.

"This is a fable being spread by his advisors," he said. "The fact that advisors release more and more statements and give more interviews to the media these days is getting on my nerves."

pfd/em (SID, dpa)