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Niersbach elected new German Federation President

DFB - Wolfgang Niersbach, Joachim Löw, Theo Zwanziger

DFB - Wolfgang Niersbach, Joachim Löw, Theo Zwanziger

Wolfang Niersbach has been elected the new President of the German Football Federation (Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB) at an extraordinary general meeting in Frankfurt today.

Niersbach was elected unanimously with 260 delegates giving away their votes in favour of the 61-year old, who happend to be the DFB General Secretary till date.

The DFB was forced to elect a new president after office bearer Theo Zwanziger announced his retirement from the helm of the largest single sports federation in the world in December.

The newly elected president thanked the delegates and guests of honour after the result was announced.

“I have a great respect for the office, but I’m looking forward to this great assignment. Many great individuals in the past made the DFB to what it is today. It is a great gift for me to continue the work and to make a difference in football,” Niersbach told.

Niersbach presented his masterplan for German football before the election took place. A key measure for him is to consolidate the unity of football, to establish a forward-looking federation and to further strengthen the core business to execute social responsibility in a credible and effective way.

The new DFB president has also expressed his dedication towards the national set-up and all measures to fight against racism, discrimination, corruption and violence in football.

Wolfang Niersbach is the 11th president in the history of the DFB. The 61-year old Niersbach was born in the small town of Nettesheim and started his career as a sports journalist with special focus on ice hockey and football. He was appointed the Head of Media of the 1988 UEFA EURO in Germany and joined the DFB after the continental championship to take charge of media affairs.

Niersbach was the media manager of the German national team, when the “Mannschaft” won the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy with Franz Beckenbauer in charge of the team.

He joined the 2006 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee in 2001 as a vice-president and was influential to make the tournament a successful one. Niersbach was appointed the new DFB General Secretary in 2007 and the success story has ended in another climax today.

Meanwhile, the DFB has appointed Helmut Sandrock as the new General Secretary. The 55-year old former German junior international earned his laurels as the chairman of German club MSV Duisburg, founding member of the Deutschen Fußball Liga (DFL), competition director of the 2006 FIFA World Cup and managing director of Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg.

Sandrock was also in charge of the first international home game of the Palestine national team and he recently joined the UEFA as an integration commissioner.