2024-07-16 11:03:32
Martin Kind has been the face of Hannover 96 for many years. But that is now over. At least as the club’s managing director.
Martin Kind is no longer the managing director of the second division football club Hannover 96. The Federal Court of Justice declared his dismissal effective on Tuesday in the final instance. This brings to an end a two-year-long process between the management of the parent club Hannover 96 e. V. and the 80-year-old entrepreneur. Although Kind remains a shareholder and becomes a member of the supervisory board, he loses his main role in the operational business.
The professional football department of the Lower Saxony club has been spun off for more than 20 years. It is officially known as Hannover 96 GmbH & Co. KGaA (limited partnership on shares). However, Hannover 96 e. V. continued to exist as the so-called parent club. A legal dispute broke out in the summer of 2022 between Kind, managing director of the KGaA, and the representatives of the parent club.
The representatives of the parent association dismissed Kind from his post, against which Kind lodged an appeal. Kind was able to successfully defend himself against this before the Hanover Regional Court and the Celle Higher Regional Court. However, the highest German civil court overturned their decisions on Tuesday.
The ruling also has consequences for the DFL. Because with a child, a staunch opponent of the 50+1 rule in German professional football is no longer in a position of responsibility.
As managing director and majority shareholder of the spun-off professional football division of Hannover 96, he initially tried in vain to obtain an exemption. Since then, many supporters of the rule have feared that he could take this restriction on the influence of external investors, which only applies in Germany, to a regular court.
However, all courts dealing with the case made it clear that this case was not about the effectiveness of the 50+1 rule, but only about the long-standing dispute between the capital and the club sides at Hannover 96.
Kind was first elected president there in 1997. In 1999, he spun off the professional football division. With a short interruption from 2005 to 2006, Kind was always the managing director and majority shareholder of this division until this year. However, the parent club Hannover 96 eV has been run by Kind opponents since 2019.