Germany mourns Wilfried Straub

German football is mourning the loss of Wilfried Straub. The former German Football Association (DFB) vice-president and director – who was honoured with the UEFA President's Award in 2006 – passed away this week at the age of 77.

Wilfried Straub joined the DFB in 1968 as a department head and became league secretary one year later. He then spent ten years as the director of the DFB league marketing and finance department, playing a major role in the development of the Bundesliga. 

He was named as an honorary DFB member at an extraordinary congress in Frankfurt am Main in 2006. In the same year, he was bestowed with the President's Award by then UEFA President Lennart Johansson for his outstanding services to the game.

"All of us here at the DFB are saddened at the news of Wilfried Straub's death," said DFB president Reinhard Grindel. "Our honorary member made an outstanding contribution to professional football both inside and outside Germany during his time at our association, and later at the German Football League. The whole of German football will have fond memories of him."

Straub was a member of numerous UEFA bodies between 1978 and 2006. He was, among others, vice-chairman of the Committee for Professional Football, Committee for Non-Amateur Football and Committee for Licensed Match Agents, as well as a member of the Marketing and Media Committee, and he was a respected UEFA panel expert in transfer matters. He was a member of the Amicale des Anciens circle of former UEFA committee members.