Theo Zwanziger (born 6 June 1945) is a German lawyer and sports official. He was the president of the German Football Association (DFB) from 2006 to 2012. For his contributions to German football, he received the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 2005.

Career

Theo Zwanziger was an amateur player for his local VfL Altendiez, playing there until 1975. He studied law in

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

and graduated in fiscal and constitutional law. Between 1980 and 1985, he worked as a judge in Koblenz before joining the government of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

as a representative of the CDU. In 1992, Zwanziger entered the DFB as a member of the executive board ("Mitglied des Vorstandes"). He was a vital part of the groundbreaking 2001 decision to grant autonomy to the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

professional teams, letting them organise themselves in the DFL (Deutsche Fußball-Liga). In 2001, Zwanziger was made treasurer of the DFB and elected vice president in 2003. For his contributions to German football, he received the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 2005. On 8 December 2006, he was named co-president alongside Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder. After Mayer-Vorfelder left the DFB to become UEFA vice president in 2007, he became the sole president of the DFB. On 2 March 2012, he stepped down. In March 2016, the FIFA Ethics Committee opened formal proceedings against Zwanziger regarding the awarding of the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

Personal life

Zwanziger is married and has two sons.

Litigation

When the renowned sport journalist Jens Weinreich called him an "unglaublicher Demagoge" (unbelievable demagogue), Zwanziger unsuccessfully asked the Landgericht Berlin (country court of Berlin) to issue a temporary injunction against this statement. Zwanziger later publicly announced to go to the court of Koblenz, his former place of work for another attempt, resulting in further criticism from the press and journalists' associations. As of March 2009, Zwanziger's legal attempts to silence Weinreich have all but failed. Weinreich has publicly stated that he fears Zwanziger might continue to use

SLAPP Strategic lawsuits against public participation (also known as SLAPP suits or intimidation lawsuits), or strategic litigation against public participation, are lawsuits intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with ...

tactics to outspend Weinreich, hence accepting donations from the public to cover his legal expenses. On 27 March 2009, Weinreich and the DFB agreed out of court. Behind paywall.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zwanziger, Theo 1945 births Living people German football chairmen and investors People from Rhein-Lahn-Kreis Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz alumni Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Association football executives