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09/17/2020 | Campus-Meldung

Möller moderates talks on the future of German professional soccer

The Executive Committee of the German Football League (DFL) has set up a "Taskforce for the Future of Professional Football" and determined its membership. The meetings will be moderated by Kassel psychology professor Prof. Dr. Heidi Möller. It also deals with the lessons learned from the Corona crisis.

Image: Sonja Rode
Prof. Dr. Heidi Möller.

The task force will comprise a total of 35 experts from the fields of sports, society, politics and business, among others. The DFL announced this in a press release yesterday (Sept. 16). Participants include Max Eberl (Sports Director Borussia Mönchengladbach), Oliver Bierhoff (Director National Team) and Britta Dassler (Member of the Sports Committee of the Bundestag).

The basic approach of the task force, according to the DFL, is to reflect on past developments, discuss them in an interdisciplinary manner and, if necessary, design viable paths for the future. The participants will meet in three working groups for several sessions in the coming months - each of which will be moderated by Prof. Dr. Heidi Möller. Möller, who holds a degree in psychology and is Executive Director of the Institute of Psychology at the University of Kassel, is Professor of "Theory and Methodology of Counseling" there.

With a view to German professional soccer, the task force will look into topics such as competitive balance, payment flows, social anchoring, ethical guidelines, fan interests, economic stability and the promotion of women's soccer. It is envisaged that the DFL Executive Committee and the DFL General Meeting, with the 36 clubs in the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga as the responsible bodies, will then address the findings of the working groups.

"On behalf of the DFL Executive Committee, I would like to thank all participants for their willingness to participate in the task force," said Christian Seifert, spokesman for the DFL Executive Committee and DFL Managing Director: "This procedure, which has never been practiced before in German professional sports, is intended to do justice to the complexity of the aspects to be discussed and to take into account the variety of different perspectives."

 

This text is based on a DFL press release. This also lists all the members of the task force: https://www.dfl.de/de/aktuelles/taskforce-zukunft-profifussball-besetzung/