Bundesliga bosses working on realignment without Bayern Munich’s Oliver Kahn

The DFL General Assembly is set to take place on August 17th in Dortmund, where there will be new elections for the DFL executive committee and supervisory board. VfB Stuttgart’s Alexander Wehrle will be leaving the DFL presidency at that time, but he is also the chairman of the supervisory board of the new DFB GmbH and Co. KG. Eintracht Frankfurt board member Axel Hellmann is the favorite to replace him as he is considered to be an expert in the financial and economical arena, which is exactly what the DFL needs right now as they continue to rebound from coronavirus-related losses (SportBild).

Two weeks ago, during Rudi Voller’s farewell meeting at Bayer Leverkusen, to which board members from Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Borussia Monchengladbach, and RB Leipzig were invited, there was a lot of discussion about the restructuring of the DFL supervisory board and the distribution of power. Oliver Kahn was not present at the meeting despite being invited, and instead sent Bayern CFO Jan-Christian Dreesen.

“Some clubs have informed me that they will propose me for the DFL Executive Committee. I am happy to be available because the overall development of the league will be characterized by great challenges in the coming years ,” Axel Hellmann told SportBild. On the European stage, Frankfurt’s Europa League success has already brought significant financial return for the Bundesliga side, which Hellmann has dealt with directly in the wake of their success.

Kahn has decided not to run in favor of Dreesen for his DFL Executive Committee re-election because he wants to put the majority of his focus into his role as CEO of Bayern Munich and as a board member for the European Club Association. “The task of the chairman of the board at FC Bayern is traditionally and rightly very closely linked to the sporting area,” he said.

Internally, there is concern that if Dortmund and Bayern representatives hold executive committee positions in the DFL, too much power will be given to a pair of clubs that already hold significantly more power than the rest of the Bundesliga. With the new list of anticipated candidates, this could really change things and help give more voting power to DFL clubs other than Bayern and Dortmund. Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke is still planning on making a run for a seat on UEFA’s executive committee this year, but he also wants to ensure sure that there is still good German representation on the ECA board.

“If I were elected [to the UEFA exec. board], I would resign from my position on the ECA board in the near future. Six months later, new elections are due at the ECA. It would be important that another German representative could then join the board alongside Oliver Kahn and Fernando Carro,” Watzke implored. Oliver Mintzlaff, of RB Leipzig and RebBull sporting group, would be a prime candidate for one of those positions.

For Bayern, Kahn still holding an ECA seat is important in terms of having a say in club-level decisions throughout Europe’s leagues and competitions. Still, they’d want to avoid a situation where too much focus placed on Bayern and the ECA takes away from matters concerning the DFL. Because of this, there is added emphasis on Dreesen getting re-elected to the DFL executive board despite Kahn not running with him.