The DFB Control Committee initiates proceedings against the sports director Philipp Kaufmann, who was dismissed the same day at Osnabrück. The former FCB squad planner is alleged to have become violent towards a fourth official. Kaufmann defends himself against the allegation.
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- After relegation from the 2nd Bundesliga, VfL Osnabrück are also bottom of the 3rd league. This serious sporting crisis has had drastic consequences.
- In addition to the coaching team, the club also parted ways with sporting director Philipp Kaufmann on Tuesday. The 30-year-old Swiss was previously with FC Basel for a long time.
- To make matters worse, the DFB initiated proceedings against Kaufmann. He is said to have physically assaulted the fourth official last weekend. Kaufmann defends himself against the accusations in "Blick".
Third-league bottom club VfL Osnabrück parted ways with its entire coaching team and sports director Philipp Kaufmann on Tuesday amid a severe sporting crisis. The traditional club had already been relegated from the Bundesliga 2 in the summer.
Kaufmann previously worked at FC Basel for over five years. First as an assistant coach in the Basel U15 and U18 teams, then as sports coordinator of the first team. In 2021, FCB boss David Degen gave the then 27-year-old the role of squad planner, and Kaufmann also became a member of the technical committee. In February 2023, he had to leave his home club as part of a restructuring - 48 hours earlier, coach Alex Frei had already been sacked.
However, the dismissal in Osnabrück is not the only news relating to Kaufmann that caused a stir on Tuesday. The German Football Association announced on its website that it had initiated proceedings against Philipp Kaufmann. According to a referee's report, Kaufmann physically assaulted the fourth official last Sunday after the final whistle of the match against Viktoria Köln.
The assault took place when the referee team had left the pitch and wanted to go to the dressing room. The manager had already made loud comments to the referees during the half-time break.
"Shocking and completely unacceptable"
Knut Kircher, Managing Director of Sport and Communication at DFB Schiri GmbH, expressed his dismay at what had happened on the homepage: "A red line has clearly been crossed here (...). It is shocking and completely unacceptable that a club official physically assaulted someone from the referee team."
The DFB Control Committee is demanding a written statement from Kaufmann. In Blick, the 30-year-old expresses his "maximum irritation" at the harsh accusations: "That was far from it." There were emotional discussions during the half-time break and after the game. "But at the end, I said goodbye to the referees with a handshake. The fourth official refused the handshake. In this context, I then patted him on the back. He obviously perceived it differently," said Kaufmann.
He sought a conversation with the fourth official on Monday. "It was a pleasant phone call. We apologized to both sides. I was therefore under the assumption that the issue had been resolved," Kaufmann states. He also has witnesses to his account of the incident: "I'm pleased that there were photographers on site who saw the incident and can confirm it."
