Bernd Neuendorf: 'Football is so much more than just a sport'
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
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The German Football Association will stage the next UEFA Women’s EURO in 2029, and its president Bernd Neuendorf is eager for the tournament to make a lasting impact.
"Hosting an important tournament is an honour but it also comes with great responsibility, he says. "We want to host a championship that UEFA and the entire European football family can be proud of."
Below, Neuendorf discusses the DFB’s recent progress, how the game has shaped his journey through life, and how it can "serve as a role model for society".
Bernd, can you tell us about your journey to becoming DFB president and a member of the FIFA Council?
I fell in love with football as a child. My father used to take me to Alemannia Aachen matches at the legendary Tivoli Stadium. I played for my local club in a very rural area, where I am still a member today. I played in a fantastic team. It may sound like a cliché, but on and off the pitch we were friends who went through thick and thin, and in hindsight it's those experiences that shaped me and helped establish a lifelong love affair with the game.
Of course, I was also influenced by the 1974 World Cup, which Germany won with an outstanding team. Back then, all of my friends on the football pitch wanted to be Gerd Müller, Franz Beckenbauer or Sepp Maier, to name just a few players from that great team.
Obviously, in my time, I've been to numerous really exciting matches but watching the team you support takes things to a higher emotional level. I vividly remember a match that featured Alemannia Aachen – then a Second Division team – hosting mighty Bayern Munich in the 2004 DFB Cup quarter-final, which turned out to be the upset of the season. In a sold-out Tivoli Stadium, Aachen beat Bayern by 2-1 and even went through to the final. Simply unforgettable!
However, it wasn't until 2019 that my great passion became my profession when I was elected president of a regional football association. Before that, I worked in journalism and politics, but even there I repeatedly encountered the great social power of football. When the DFB found itself in a very difficult phase in 2022, I felt I was ready to take on even more responsibility for this great sport, its players and various stakeholders. After my election as president, we consolidated the DFB together with a great team. We had numerous challenges to overcome. We have restructured the DFB and are now, in my second term of office, shaping the future of German football.
Congratulations on Germany's appointment as hosts for UEFA Women's EURO 2029. What was your initial reaction, and what comes next?
We are very proud and happy to be hosting UEFA Women's EURO 2029 and we would like to thank UEFA and the members of the UEFA Executive Committee for the trust they have placed in us. Hosting such an important tournament is an honour, but it also comes with great responsibility. After the wonderful UEFA Women's EURO 2025 in Switzerland, we want to set even higher standards. We are firmly convinced that the tournament in Germany will attract more than a million fans for the first time to a Women's European Championship. We look forward to celebrating a great festival of women's football in the summer of 2029.
The nation has a strong women's football culture to lean on…
We have had some outstanding pioneers of women's football in Germany who have celebrated remarkable successes with our national team. These include our honorary captains Doris Fitschen, Silvia Neid, Birgit Prinz and Bettina Wiegmann. Our national team has won eight European Championships, two World Cups and an Olympic gold medal. Membership statistics from our regional associations and amateur clubs show that football in Germany is becoming increasingly female. And yet, one of our key challenges remains to promote women's and girls' football even more strongly. The hosting of UEFA Women's EURO 2029 is a milestone in this regard.
Germany is also used to staging successful events – most recently EURO 2024, the UEFA Champions League final and the UEFA Nations League finals. What do you take from these experiences?
These events have demonstrated that, as the host nation, we enjoy trust and possess the ability to organise major matches and tournaments with passion and professionalism. In the summer of 2024, we were truly ‘United by Football’ for four weeks of our home European Championship. Thirty-six years after EURO 1988 and 34 years after peaceful reunification, Germany proved itself to be a country that just loves football, a friendly and welcoming host and, last but not least, a reliable partner for organising major sporting events.
And how can you use these events as catalysts for grassroots growth and a positive legacy throughout the country?
Football, especially amateur football, will benefit from this home European Championship. EURO 2024 will also leave a long-term impact, not only because high-class matches and a unique atmosphere have created lasting memories. The EURO has also set clear standards in terms of sustainability and will promote amateur football through various measures and projects. In the wake of the European Championship, there was also a rush to join our clubs. For the first time in its 125-year history, the DFB has recorded more than eight million memberships in the almost 24,000 clubs organised under our umbrella. The strongest percentage growth in membership is among girls aged 16 and under.
Grassroots football in Germany
The DFB is one of the world's biggest national football associations – what are some of the challenges you face when seeking continued growth and improvement?
Over the last few years, we have made great strides at the DFB and in German football as a whole. But we must not be satisfied with that; we want to set ourselves new goals. We don't just want to administer the status quo; we want to shape the future. We want to move forward courageously – and do so in a rigorous and systematic manner. To this end, we recently adopted the DFB Strategy 2030. The strategy provides clarity on our priorities and key issues for the period up to 2030, with the emphasis clearly placed on good governance and steady development.
How can national associations work together and alongside UEFA to ensure we keep developing football across Europe, both on and off the pitch?
Cooperation and knowledge transfer between national associations are of crucial importance and have existed for many years. Take UEFA Women's EURO 2029 as an example: We want to host a European Championship that UEFA and the entire European football family can be proud of. This is not just about management and organisational issues, but above all about the positive effects of the tournament on the development of women's football in Europe.
UEFA has set clear goals for 2030 with its "Unstoppable" strategy that are very much in line with our women's football strategy, Fast Forward 27 (FF27), and we want to contribute to the positive fulfilment of these goals with UEFA Women's EURO 2029. FF27 provides the strategic foundation for sustainable growth in all areas of women’s football, which makes it a central guiding framework for our work, also with an eye on Women's EURO 2029. Above all, we want to promote the exchange of knowledge around this tournament, because women's football needs international growth and therefore also international cooperation.
As a member of the UEFA Social and Environmental Sustainability Committee, can you talk about how we can use football to spread important messages to our communities?
Football can serve as a role model for society. No-one can win a game alone; success can only be achieved by playing and fighting together, by creating bonds that tie. Our teams and clubs across Europe offer precisely this sense of community in an impressive way. It is important to emphasise this fact time and again: it must be repeatedly stressed that football, with everything it conveys and everything that defines it, is so much more than just a sport. This realisation gives rise to responsibility – and our conviction that we can use the values of our sport to have a positive influence on the community. Most people who play football don't just want to score goals and win games. They want to experience being part of a community. They want to play sport in a healthy environment. They want to do something for their fitness and well-being. I see it as our duty to ensure this happens. And as a great opportunity.
We have called our sustainability strategy GOOD GAME. Across the four areas of action, it describes how the DFB is taking concrete responsibility and making its contribution to a sustainable society.
Is there a topic in this area that is particularly close to your heart?
It is a very serious issue, but the Julius Hirsch Prize, which the DFB has been awarding for two decades now, is particularly close to my heart. For me, it is the most important prize that the DFB has to offer, in memory of our German-Jewish national player Julius Hirsch, who was murdered in Auschwitz. With this award, the DFB and the Hirsch family want to honour commitment in football to democracy and human dignity, and against anti-Semitism, racism and all forms of discrimination.
The Julius Hirsch Prize keeps alive the necessary memory of the darkest chapter in the history of Germany and also of the German Football Association. This prize is more necessary today than ever before. We must not leave clubs and initiatives that stand up against discrimination, and that work for better coexistence and more respect, alone in their remarkable commitment.
Finally, on a personal level, what do you most enjoy about life as DFB president?
When I see the joy that children and young people radiate on the pitch, I know that there is nothing better than working for football and in particular for these boys and girls. So that they can continue to experience this joy of playing. And carry it into our society. That is a privilege.