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German Football League (DFL) CEO Christian Seifert is the latest big name to announce he will leave his post in the near future, as a shake-up at the top of German football continues.
Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is set to depart the Bundesliga champions in December 2021, with former Germany and club captain Oliver Kahn to take over from him.
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Borussia Dortmund‘s influential sporting director Michael Zorc also plans to vacate his post in June 2022 after 24 years in charge of the club’s sporting fate. CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke will also leave his post in 2022.
Former club captain Sebastian Kehl is tipped to succeed Zorc, who became a role model for many sporting directors across Europe.
Seifert, who still has two years remaining on his existing deal, announced his departure on Monday and said: “These are demanding times — and they call for clarity and reliability. That applies both to DFL as a whole and to my own professional ambitions.
“In two years’ time, I want to begin writing a new chapter in my professional career. But for as long as I work for DFL, I will continue to focus, with the utmost dedication and ambition, on the current and future challenges facing the organization.”
Having led the DFL since July 2005, Seifert oversaw the transformation of the league amid the globalisation of European football. With the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the 51-year-old navigated the Bundesliga through the difficult first few months including a lockdown in Germany.
In mid-May, the Bundesliga was the first major sports league to return amid the pandemic and the hygiene paper developed by the league has been adopted in parts by several other sports leagues across the world.