Friedrich Curtius (sports official)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Friedrich Curtius, 2019

Friedrich Curtius (born September 9, 1976 in Bonn ) is a German lawyer and sports official .

He has been Secretary General of the German Football Association (DFB) since March 18, 2016 . He heads the DFB central administration and is responsible for the areas of marketing, sponsoring and communication, among other things. Curtius is also a member of the supervisory board of the TV production company Sportcast, a subsidiary of the DFL .

Origin, family, private life

Friedrich Curtius grew up with four siblings in Bonn and Darmstadt . Today he lives in Frankfurt / Main .

education

Friedrich Curtius completed his school career in Darmstadt in 1995 by passing the Abitur at the Ludwig-Georgs-Gymnasium [2] . He completed a year of study at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. From the winter semester 1996/97 he studied law at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg.

After a year abroad in Montpellier , Curtius completed his law studies in 2001 with the first state examination. He received his doctorate in 2004 at the Institute for German and European Administrative Law with a thesis on "Development tendencies in licensing law". He then completed his legal clerkship at the regional court of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg , which he completed in August 2006 with the second state examination in law.

Active soccer

Friedrich Curtius is a member of SV Darmstadt 98 . In his youth he played football there and at the TG Bessungen .

Football official

Adviser and office manager of the DFB General Secretary

Curtius started working for the DFB in 2006, according to his own statement, due to a great enthusiasm for the World Cup in his own country. He said in a newspaper interview: "I really wanted to be active at the World Cup in my own country and would have checked tickets as a volunteer."

He completed his legal clerkship on the organizing committee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup .

In 2007 he became a consultant in the general secretariat, and later became the office manager of the then DFB general secretary Wolfgang Niersbach . In the media this is attributed to his analytical skills and communicative nature.

Head of the Presidential Office

With the election of Wolfgang Niersbach as president of the DFB , Curtius took over the management of the presidential office. In this function he was entrusted with sport-political issues, the cooperation with UEFA and FIFA as well as other national associations.

Secretary General

Curtius was appointed Secretary General of the DFB on March 18, 2016. In this role he succeeded Helmut Sandrock . With his ten years of experience in various positions at the DFB, Curtius should stand for competence and a new beginning in the eyes of the DFB and give the association a new structure.

Responsibilities

The general secretary heads the DFB central administration and is also a member of the presidium and thus also of the board of directors, as well as in several committees and commissions. Curtius was entrusted with the restructuring of the work of the DFB central administration after the summer fairy tale affair and the resignation of the DFB President Grindel . He is also responsible for setting up the new DFB Academy.

Restructuring of the DFB

After he took office, extensive measures were taken in the structure of the association in order to achieve a “stricter separation of the ideal area from the commercial business operations”. Since then, Curtius has been managing the DFB together with four directors and the chief legal officer.

As part of a professionalization process, all commercial business operations are to be spun off into the subsidiary DFB GmbH. The DFB GmbH is to be led by Curtius and Oliver Bierhoff . Curtius designed the process as the highest full-time official of the DFB .

Controversy

Skirmish over the DFB Academy

In the course of the construction of the new DFB academy, there was a public exchange of blows between Curtius and Oliver Bierhoff over the skills within the DFB : Curtius underlined his responsibility for the new DFB academy in an interview with ZEIT . In his opinion, the aim must be to develop a sporting concept and a game philosophy beyond the national team through the work of the academy. He literally said that neither the academy nor the national team should "become independent".

He also criticized the increasing focus of the DFB activities on the national team under team manager Oliver Bierhoff. Observers also rated this as an attack on Bierhoff's person: On the one hand, it was interpreted that Curtius did not like that Bierhoff stylized himself as a brand. On the other hand, that Bierhoff is narrowing the DFB academy to the national team and taking a responsibility that Curtius is entitled to. This debate was resolved when the academy broke ground: In spring 2019, Bierhoff emphasized that overall responsibility for the DFB academy lay with Curtius.

Cooperation agreement with Sporttotal.tv

In order to stream the games of amateur soccer players using a special 180-degree camera system, the DFB signed a framework agreement with the sports marketer Sporttotal.tv for a term of ten years. The award hit the headlines in June 2018 , according to a report by the news magazine Der Spiegel , because there was suspicion of nepotism. The award was made without a tender and the contract was placed with Sporttotal.tv, whose managing director Peter Lauterbach had gone to school with Curtius.

Curtius stated that he pointed out the personal connection and passed the process on to the responsible departments at the DFB. Curtius also pointed out that sporttotal.tv's competitor, Soccerwatch, only had a comparable technical offer in 2017 and Curtius is still in talks with the company. Since 2019 there has also been a framework agreement between the DFB and Soccerwatch.

Assignment to Freshfields

To come to terms with the summer fairy tale affair , the DFB commissioned the law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer to conduct an investigation. In October 2015, criticism of the assignment of the mandate to the law firm was raised because the lawyer in charge of the mandate, Prof. Dr. Christian Duve was personally acquainted with Curtius, then office manager of DFB President Niersbach , through a Rotary club in Frankfurt (Main). The DFB pointed out that the mandate was based on a recommendation by media lawyer Prof. Dr. Christian Schertz came about, which Schertz did not confirm. Neither the law firm nor the DFB saw any indication of a conflict of interest. The DFB also pointed out that Freshfields was already working for the organizing committee of the 2006 soccer World Cup and thus before Curtius took up his duties. However, this called into question the independence of the firm's investigation.

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Curtius  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ DFB: Association structure at the DFB. In: www.dfb.de. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  2. ^ DFB: Interest register of the DFB. In: www.dfb.de. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  3. ^ University of Heidelberg: Institute for German and European Administrative Law. In: https://www.jura.uni-heidelberg.de/ivr/ . August 22, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  4. ^ Munzinger Archive: Article in the Munzinger Archive. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b PHOENIX: Curtius in the program “phoenix personal”, June 8th, 2018. In: YouTube. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  6. ↑ a b PHOENIX: Curtius reaction in the program “phoenix personal”. In: YouTube. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Jan Christian Müller: This man is supposed to get the DFB back on track. In: Frankfurter Rundschau online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Cathrin Gilbert and Moritz Müller-Wirth: "The shot over the bow has arrived". In: DIE ZEIT online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  9. ^ Diana Fröhlich and René Bender: The DFB General Secretary wants to give the association a new structure. In: Handelsblatt online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Jan Christian Müller: This man is supposed to get the DFB back on track. In: Frankfurter Rundschau online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  11. ^ DFB: History of the DFB. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  12. ^ DFB: DFB news portal. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  13. ↑ DFB: DFB association structure. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  14. ↑ DFB: DFB association structure. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  15. ^ Diana Fröhlich and René Bender: The DFB General Secretary wants to give the association a new structure. In: Handelsblatt online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  16. ^ DFB: DFB Newsportal. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  17. ↑ DFB: DFB Bundestag supports the process of structural change. DFB, accessed on October 18, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Welt.de: Keller praises the DFB as "society's last campfire". Retrieved October 18, 2019 .
  19. ^ Diana Fröhlich and René Bender: The DFB General Secretary wants to give the association a new structure. In: Handelsblatt online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  20. ↑ SPOBIS: DFB: Curtius explains new structures | SPOBIS18. In: YouTube. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  21. ↑ DFB: Link to the DFB Academy. In: DFB.de. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Cathrin Gilbert and Moritz Müller-Wirth: "The shot over the bow has arrived". In: DIE ZEIT online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  23. ^ Dpa: Bierhoff: Academy is a reward for “good work”. In: DIE WELT online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Holger Rehms: Amateur football automatically on TV - is that the Tesla of the sports business? In: Manager Magazin online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Rafael Buschmann, Jürgen Dahlkamp, ​​Gunther Latsch, Jörg Schmitt: How the DFB general secretary gave his school friend an exclusive contract. In: DER SPIEGEL, edition 2018/23. June 1, 2018, accessed August 22, 2019 .
  26. ↑ DFB: Cooperation between DFB and Soccerwatch.tv. In: DFB Newsportal. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  27. ↑ DFB: DFB Freshfields report. In: dfb.de. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  28. ↑ ZEIT ONLINE, dpa, sk: Doubts about the independence of the DFB investigation. In: DIE ZEIT online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  29. ↑ René Bender: DFB affair: More and more advisors known, criticism of Freshfields mandate. In: juve.de. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
  30. ^ A b Johannes Aumüller and Thomas Kistner: Doubtful Enlightenment. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung online. Retrieved August 22, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Curtius, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German sports official
DATE OF BIRTH September 9, 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Bonn