The supervisory board of Hamburger SV has commented on the reasons for the separation from sports director Stefan Kuntz, confirming detailed allegations of misconduct. Kuntz had previously defended himself against the accusations in the Süddeutsche Zeitung. The dispute is increasingly being played out publicly.
The separation between Hamburger SV and its sports director Stefan Kuntz, announced on January 2, 2024, is causing controversy. Initially, it was officially stated that the departure was due to family reasons. One day after a report in Bild am Sonntag on January 7, the supervisory board revealed that allegations of misconduct were at play. Kuntz, 63 years old and a former national player, defended himself against these accusations with a statement on Instagram that same evening.
In a statement on Monday, the supervisory board addressed Kuntz's defense in the Süddeutsche Zeitung from the previous weekend. His lawyer Christian Schertz had stated that Kuntz still does not know "what exactly is being accused against him by which person and in which situation." The supervisory board dismissed this as "verifiably untrue." They informed Kuntz formally about the investigation on December 18, 2023, and sent anonymized witness statements to his lawyers on December 19. They also offered hearing dates on December 22 and 23, which Kuntz and his lawyers did not take up.
"The misconduct described credibly by several informants independently of each other, which led to internal investigations, includes numerous serious breaches of duty that any responsible supervisory board would have compelled to act," stated the club's announcement. The supervisory board regrets the public dispute "in the interest of all affected persons." The internal investigations are based on reports from multiple independent sources.
