Gerhard Schröder: He leaves home club Hannover 96

Ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (78, SPD) has resigned from his home club Hannover 96. The board of directors of the football club announced this Thursday (April 7th). The club had previously considered expulsion from the club and asked Schröder for a short-term statement and self-assessment as to “whether his own values ​​are still in line with the values ​​of the club,” said a statement from early March.

The reason for the examination of the exclusion are “the values ​​of Mr. Schröder, which in the opinion of the board of directors obviously contradict the values ​​of the association, in connection with his public statements on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, his current work at the Russian group Rosneft and the desired work at the likewise Russian concern Gazprom”.

Schröder, who is considered a long-time friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin (69), has now responded by resigning. From December 2016 to June 2019, the former chancellor was chairman of the supervisory board of the football club’s operating company.

Honorary memberships revoked

Borussia Dortmund had already withdrawn Schröder’s honorary membership at the beginning of March. was explained: “The assumption of management positions in Russian state-owned companies by a BVB honorary member is not acceptable against the background of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the associated serious violation of applicable international law.”

The German Football Association (DFB) followed suit a little later and : “Gerhard Schröder is no longer an honorary member of the German Football Association. Anyone who, out of consideration for personal interests, does not clearly distance himself from the war and its aggressor and, moreover, does not do the necessary business draws consequences, does not share the values ​​of football and the German Football Association.” Schröder was made an honorary member of the DFB by the DFB Bundestag in December 2005 in Leipzig.