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All in all, it was a harmonious two-hour general meeting on Monday evening in the business area of the PreZero Arena. New elections were not on the agenda. The motion to approve the transfer of Dietmar Hopp’s majority voting shares in TSG GmbH to TSG e.V. was approved.
President Kristian Baumgärtner had called in sick in the morning and sent his apologies. In his place, second chairperson Simone Engelhardt led the meeting with aplomb, which, in addition to the discharge of the board of directors, had one particular motion as the most important item on the agenda.
In February 2015, the general meeting had decided to accept the special permission granted by the DFL to Dietmar Hopp and to grant him a voting majority in accordance with his capital contributions in Spielbetriebs GmbH. Now, at Hopp’s request, a motion was made to return this majority to the club in accordance with the 50+1 rule. 169 of the 175 members present and entitled to vote agreed to this, with two abstentions and four votes against.
Hopp: Happy that TSG is back in accordance with 50+1
“I am happy to return the majority of my voting rights to the club and am pleased that TSG Hoffenheim is thus once again one of the clubs in compliance with the 50+1 rule,” said Dietmar Hopp in the run-up to the general meeting. “During the eight years in which I was the majority shareholder, we always acted in the best interests of the club and made decisions concerning Spielbetriebs GmbH together. That will also be the case in the future.” Lawyer Arno Metz cleared up a few technical questions and pointed out that the shareholders’ agreement would now be amended so that the e.V. would once again have the majority of votes.
A video highlighting several aspects of sporting activity at TSG, including gymnastics, elderly football, children’s football kickers and many more, was shown to open the meeting, which was also attended by the management of Spielbetriebs GmbH and the director of professional football, Alexander Rosen.
In his welcoming speech, Sinsheim’s mayor Jörg Albrecht expressed his gratitude for the great support TSG received in the final stretch of the season and his delight that the celebrations to mark 50 years since Sinsheim was designated a large town were not spoiled by the Bundesliga’s smallest-town club dropping out of the division.
Horst Heinlein, the loudspeaker of the Dietmar Hopp Stadium, moderated between speeches and handed over to third chair Frank Engelhardt for the mournful part of the evening, as members who have passed away were commemorated.
Presentation of the TSG AOK-Campus
Seven people were honoured for 50 years of membership and five others for 40 years. The silver badge of honour for members who joined 25 years ago, including president Kristian Baumgärtner among others, will be presented to those concerned personally in the coming days.
Simon Reich, coordinator of the TSG AOK Campus, gave an insight into the daily work that is done around the Dietmar Hopp Stadium in grassroots sports. “We want to develop joy and enthusiasm for sport and exercise and combine it all with the TSG feeling,” said Reich, who punctuated his remarks with a short film that received an enthusiastic reception.
No increase in fees
As in previous years, auditor Jens Lehmann from Heddesheim was responsible for the figures and presented the cash report. “We also assessed the financial year to 30 June 2022 without any objections,” Lehmann confirmed. Lehmann thus provided his cash audit with an unqualified audit certificate as usual. The annual surplus was 168,963 Euros.
Simone Engelhardt, who took office just under a year ago and whose main focus is on grassroots sport, gave the happy news that membership fees would not be increased this year either. This followed a few contributions to the agenda item ” Discussion”, which mainly concerned the Bundesliga team. Engelhardt closed proceedings by inviting the 500 or so members present, out of a total of just under 10,000, to enjoy the hospitality on offer.
