FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafström has attended the 45th Ordinary German Football Association’s (DFB) Bundestag in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where FIFA Council member Bernd Neuendorf was re-elected DFB President until 2029. Mr Neuendorf received unanimous backing from all 253 voting delegates at the first DFB Bundestag to be held at the DFB Campus.

Set across 15 hectares in Frankfurt, the DFB campus was officially inaugurated in July 2022, and the complex features grass pitches and training areas, as well as an indoor football hall with an artificial turf pitch, an athletes’ centre, conference and seminar rooms and a futsal hall. The project was part-funded by the FIFA Forward Programme.

“It is my first official visit, in my new capacity, to the biggest national association in the world, the DFB, and therefore a very proud moment for me,” Mr Grafström said. “We have the privilege of counting on my dear friend the DFB President, Bernd Neuendorf, as a member of the FIFA Council and I am very grateful to count on our close relationship and his experience to further strengthen our collaboration, not only at the international level, but also in every level across Germany.”

Earlier this year, FIFA President Gianni Infantino addressed the DFB’s 125th anniversary celebration in Leipzig. The DFB was founded on 28 January 1900 by 86 clubs and became a FIFA member in the days after world football's governing body was established in Paris on 21 May 1904.

“We can be proud of what we’ve achieved together at the DFB and in German football – especially in our 125th anniversary year. But we mustn’t become complacent or unambitious. We don’t just want to manage – we want to shape the future,” Mr Neuendorf said.

“A DFB executive committee is not elected for what it has done in the past. It’s elected above all for the future it sets out, for what it plans to achieve. That’s why we recently adopted DFB Strategy 2030 – the first overarching strategy for the organisation. We will implement it consistently and align all our actions with it.”