President Claus Vogt on…
…the concluded penalty proceedings:
“With the penalty notice, the proceedings against the e.V. [registered association] and the AG [public limited company] have been processed and concluded, which we are very pleased about. We have had a difficult few weeks, but the errors and failings were of our own making. Neither Thomas nor I were in a position of responsibility at that time. However, we both represent this club today and have accepted the responsibility for the investigation and the consequences.”
…VfB’s apologies to its members:
“We sincerely apologise to all those affected for what happened. At the same time, I would like to thank everyone who supported us in clearing up the matter. In particular, I would like to thank Mr Brink, Thomas Hitzlsperger, our employees, members and fans. At all times, our motto on this issue has been and still is: thoroughness before speed.”
…the spin-off:
“The spin-off of 2017 is not called into question by us as a result of the findings of the investigations. A clear majority of the members voted in favour of it, and all of VfB's committees stand by this decision. I myself was with the fan committee two weeks ago and also received the clear statement there that no one wants to fight the battles of 2017 again. We also owe it to our partner Daimler to resolve this issue. Therefore, once again: we are not questioning the spin-off and want to shape a successful future for VfB within the current structure of an e.V. and an AG.”
…the question of the publication of the investigation reports:
“Thomas and I announced early on that we would make the investigation reports public in their entirety. However, VfB is currently involved in legal disputes, which means that publication of the investigation reports would be open to legal challenge. We have had this checked in detail both in the e.V. and in the AG, and cannot publish the investigation reports as the personal rights would not be protected, even if blacked out. VfB must not resolve data protection breaches and in the process commit new violations. Of course, all members and fans have the right to know what went wrong back then, and we want to fulfil that requirement with a comprehensive set of answers.”
…his role and that of Thomas Hitzlsperger in the investigation:
“We took the matter seriously from the start and worked through it relentlessly. We hope that it is also a vote of confidence for our members and fans that we have been able to resolve this issue. We have had many discussions, and managed to ensure that no stone was left unturned and that we can look forward together.”
CEO Thomas Hitzlsperger on…
…the outcome of the data affair:
“Our thanks go to all those who have supported this investigation. A special thanks here goes to the State Commissioner for Data Protection, Mr Brink, for his respectful handling throughout.”
…VfB’s future commitment to data protection:
“I am very pleased that, in addition to the fine, we are supporting the ‘Data Privacy Goes to School’ project to raise awareness of data privacy issues. We will do everything we can to ensure that such breaches do not occur in the future and that we set a good example in this area. Even though we are first and foremost a football club and would prefer to only deal with football – which is currently the most fun thing to do – we are also a professional organisation. We need to look at data protection and compliance even more intensively, and provide our employees with clear guidelines and recommendations for action.”
…the consequences of the data affair:
“VfB did not handle member data in a lawful way and violated legal requirements. For that I would like to sincerely apologise to all members, fans and employees. This has had personnel consequences, which were painful but had to be taken.”
…his work with Claus Vogt:
“We started the process of dealing with the data affair together, and we wanted to finish it together. It is in all our interests that we look forward and tackle things together. We have learned from this difficult period and learned our lessons from the outcome about how we can position VfB in such a way that such offences do not happen again in the future. There has been a lot of talk recently about personal relationships, but the past few weeks of reappraisal have also shown one thing: that our club functions very well, even if we don't always completely agree.”