Reinhard Grindel to step down as DFB president, Philipp Lahm rumored as successor

DFB President Reinhard Grindel may at last succumb to the unrelenting pressure that has fallen on him since Germany’s disastrous 2018 World Cup campaign. According to SPOX and Goal.com, Grindel may announce his resignation this week. The latest scandal to befall the embattled president concerns an undisclosed payment of €78 thousand for approximately two meetings that Grindel attended as the president of an advisory board for a media company related to the DFB.

Bild directly Grindel whether he planned to resign. Grindel responded with long silence before stating that there was an agreement with the DFB board, the content of which he would not yet disclose. Far from a denial.

It thus seems all but certain that the DFB board has had enough and is planning Grindel’s exit. Grindel may either step down immediately or declare that he will not seek re-election in September. In the meantime, Grindel will still enjoy an income of €500,000 for his positions on UEFA and FIFA’s executive boards.

Former Bayern Munich and national team captain Philipp Lahm is currently the favorite potential successor. In marked contrast to Grindel, whom Bayern’s board has disparagingly described as an “amateur,” Lahm has profound professional playing experience. As the head of the Euro 2024 organizing committee, he also has taken the first successful steps in his post-playing involvement in the Germany soccer hierarchy. It is already anticipated that Lahm would be elected into the DFB board in the near future. The board may just decide to install Lahm as president.