Donata Hopfen resigns as German Football League CEO

FRANKFURT, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Donata Hopfen, CEO of Germany’s soccer governing body Deutsche Fussball Liga (DFL) will resign from her post at the end of the year, DFL said on Wednesday.

DFL said its supervisory board had held a meeting earlier and decided Hopfen “had different ideas about the future strategic direction of the company.”

Hopfen’s resignation comes amid delays to the sale of a $3.6 billion stake in the Bundesliga’s media rights business.

“We have achieved a lot and initiated a lot in the last few months. We have developed a viable future strategy for German professional football,” Hopfen said.

Chairman of DFL’s supervisory board Hans-Joachim Watzke said Hopfen had “provided important impetus for the Bundesliga.”

Axel Hellmann from football club Eintracht Frankfurt and Oliver Leki from SC Freiburg are possible successors for the role, according to German media reports.