Kristian Baumgärtner elected first chairperson

At exactly 12:42 CET, Baumgärtner took to the stage as the election winner and thanked the 195 members present, 98 of whom were entitled to vote, for the confidence placed in him. "It is a privilege for me to be able to continue the work of my friend Peter Hofmann and I will approach it with the same level of motivation as in my previous role as second chairperson.''

With the sun shining, Horst Heinlein - the stadium announcer at the Dietmar Hopp Stadium - opened the event, which had been moved to the PreZero Arena in compliance with the relevant hygiene regulations. For the first time in history, the event started with the words "good morning" as opposed to ''good evening''. After a short welcome by Lord Mayor Jörg Albrecht, third chairperson Frank Engelhardt took over for the saddest part of the day: paying tribute to the dead. The honorary members who had passed away since the last annual general meeting in December 2019 were remembered: Peter Hofmann, Franz Pils, Otto Lehnert, Edgar Neu, Albert Berger, Bruno Engelhardt and Theo Berberig.

In his role as second chairperson and deputy to the president, Baumgärtner read out the board's report and looked back on the sporting successes of the past months as well as the difficult working conditions caused by the pandemic. Among the guests in the stadium stands were the three managing directors Frank Briel, Denni Strich and Prof. Jan Mayer.

The future of TSG

Majority shareholder Dietmar Hopp then also recalled the work of Peter Hofmann and paid tribute to the long tenure of the former president. He also introduced the members to Prof. Jan Mayer, who was appointed managing director in June and who, together with Briel and Strich, has succeeded in quickly bringing about a positive culture change that will improve staff satisfaction and performance. Hopp then outlined his ideas for the "future of TSG", with a stated ambition to permanently finish in sixth place and above.

Mariano Maroto López, managing director of Hobra GmbH und Co. KG, which is financed by Hopp, outlined how this is to be achieved, among other things, in an interesting speech that updated the members present on projects recently launched in southern Brazil and Portugal. In order to inform those members who were not present, detailed information on these topics will be included in the next issue of SPIELFELD, set for publication on 11 October, as well as in the coming days on other TSG channels.

Denni Strich, the managing director for sales, marketing, media & communications who took office at the start of March 2020, took over for the agenda item "Reports on club events" and addressed, among other things, the recent successes of the women's team, who have achieved qualification for the group stage of the Champions League under coach Ralf Zwanziger and have become another flagship element of the club.

Board of directors fully capable of acting

As in the previous year, auditor Jens Lehmann from Heddesheim was responsible for going over financial figures and presenting the treasury report. Lehmann pointed out structural changes in the 2019/20 business year as well as decreased donations and grants in the non-material area and spoke of a "quiet year from a financial point of view" due to the Covid pandemic, with a net loss of 238,830 euros as of 30 June 2021. As usual, Lehmann was able to provide his cash audit with an unqualified audit opinion.

The decisive item on the agenda, the election of the first chairperson under the supervision of lawyer Helmut Kuhr, took place after the board had been discharged at the request of OB Albrecht without any dissenting votes. The appointment of the second chairperson had to be postponed at short notice until the next general meeting (2021) in spring 2022, but the duo of Baumgärtner/Engelhardt is, as lawyer Kuhr confirmed, "fully capable of acting".

At 12:46 CET, Baumgärtner performed his first official act as elected first chairperson by announcing that membership fees will not be increased. Afterwards, the new president answered the members' questions as traditional stadium Wurst was served. Once this was done, Baumgärtner left to attend the TSG women's team's Bundesliga match against Eintracht Frankfurt at Dietmar Hopp Stadium - and to follow the men's match against VfB Stuttgart on TV.

Members honoured

Honour for 50 years of club membership

Wilhelm Bender
Reiner Egenlauf
Horst Hassert
Torsten Karrer
Anja Kreß
Joachim Pompe
Christiane Rienesl
Jörg Zimmermann

Gold badge of honour for 40 years of club membership

Christoph Berberig
Matthias Berberig
Steffen Eichstädter
Sven Engelhardt
Walter Freymüller
Herbert Friederich
Michael Hartwich
Thomas Hilbert
Gerhard Klinger
Marc Kreuzwieser
Wolfgang Neu
Kerstin Petri
Dietmar Ries
James Douglas Ruger
Achim Weber
Armin Welker
Jens Ziegelmüller
Rainer Ziegler
Jens Zimmermann

Gold badge of honour for 25 years of club membership

Patrick Bauer
Lars Dehning
Ronja Freundt
Marco Hofmann
Steffen Rippel
Dennis Roßmannek
Sina Spanberger
Samira Spanberger
Andreas Steinbrenner
Dominik Vidinli
Marcus Willert
Jaqueline Zimmermann