Hans-Joachim Watzke hits back at the “embittered” Martin Kind

“The child has just been kicked out by his own club. So what he says is completely irrelevant to me. It only sounds bitter,” the 65-year-old countered at the Picture-Newspaper Kind's statements.

During a panel discussion at a technology fair in Berlin with Managing Director Andreas Rettig of the German Football Association (DFB), Kind made DFL Supervisory Board Chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke the scapegoat for the failed fundraising.

By allowing the league association to become vulnerable to blackmail in the future, the outgoing managing director of Champions League finalist Borussia Dortmund “has caused enormous damage to German football,” said Kind, interpreting the DFL's withdrawal as a “signal to the fans: If you have enough balls and are loud enough, we will not carry out any more reforms.”

The long-standing 96 majority shareholder called the DFL's decision to stop its efforts to find new sponsors last winter after weeks of fan protests “adventurous. Making decisions on the basis of populism is out of the question for me.”