Rainer Koch (born 18 December 1958) is a German jurist and football official. From November 2015 to April 2016, he was the acting president of the

German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system ...

along with

Reinhard Rauball Reinhard Rauball (born 25 December 1946) is a German politician, member of the SPD, a trained lawyer, and football official. He is known for having served as president of football team Borussia Dortmund several times and also served very briefly ...

. Koch is a member of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

's Appeals Body.

Professional career

Koch completed his schooling at Wilhelmsgymnasium Munich and then did his military service. From 1979 to 1984 he studied law at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

. After receiving his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' ...

, he worked in the Bavarian

judicature The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

. After working in various local courts, he worked for three years at the Saxonian University of Applied Sciences of Administration in

Meissen Meissen (in German orthography: ''Meißen'', ) is a town of approximately 30,000 about northwest of Dresden on both banks of the Elbe river in the Free State of Saxony, in eastern Germany. Meissen is the home of Meissen porcelain, the Albre ...

. Koch was the deputy head of the IT authority of the Bavarian justice for several years. Since 2008, Koch has been a judge at the

Oberlandesgericht An ''Oberlandesgericht'' (plural – ''Oberlandesgerichte''; OLG, en, Higher Regional Court, or in Berlin '' Kammergericht'': KG) is a higher court in Germany. There are 24 OLGs in Germany and they deal with civil and criminal matters. They ...

Munich. Because of his diverse obligations as a sports official, he converted to a

part-time job A part-time job is a form of employment that carries fewer hours per week than a full-time job. They work in shifts. The shifts are often rotational. Workers are considered to be part-time if they commonly work fewer than 30 hours per week. Acco ...

Sporting career

Bavarian Football Association

In his youth, Koch played football for the ''Kirchheimer SC'' and for the ''TSV Poing''. From 1977 to 1980, Koch was coach of the D and C junior teams from Kirchheimer SC. Also in Kirchheim, Koch took over head of the youth department from 1989-1990. Starting in 1975, he was a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

at the

Bavarian Football Association The Bavarian Football Association (german: Bayerischer Fussball-Verband), the ''BFV'', is one of 21 regional organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the state of Bavaria.Bayernliga The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one o ...

, which was then the third highest league in Germany. From 1987 to 1989 he was an official referee observer. He also coached the A youth team of Falke Markt Schwaben. Koch acquired the coaching license B in 1982. At the age of 24, in 1982, he was an observer in the referee committee of the football district of Munich, which he held until 1986. After a work-related break, Koch returned again in 1990 to the BFV and became chairman of the Jugend-Sportgericht (Youth Sport Court) in the district of

Upper Bavaria Upper Bavaria (german: Oberbayern, ; ) is one of the seven administrative districts of Bavaria, Germany. Geography Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered on the city of Munich, both state capital and s ...

. After six years he was assessor in the association sports court, the leading sports court in the BFV, which he chaired from 1998 until 2004. In November 2004, Koch was unanimously elected President of the Bavarian Football Association. As president, he visited the district and regional days in BFV, promoted the efforts against

match fixing In organized sports, match fixing is the act of playing or officiating a match with the intention of achieving a pre-determined result, violating the rules of the game and often the law. There are many reasons why match fixing might take place, ...

, and strengthened the lower divisions in the association. In the following BFV general meetings in 2006, 2010 and 2014 Koch was unanimously re-elected.

Southern German Football Association

Koch was elected in 2005 as vice president of the board of the

Southern German Football Association The Southern German Football Association (german: Süddeutscher Fussball-Verband), the ''SFV'', is one of five regional organisations of the German Football Association, the ''DFB'', and covers the states of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria and Hes ...

(Süddeutscher Fußball-Verband, SFV). The SFV is made up of the football associations in Bavaria,

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Da ...

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden ...

and

Württemberg Württemberg ( ; ) is a historical German territory roughly corresponding to the cultural and linguistic region of Swabia. The main town of the region is Stuttgart. Together with Baden and Hohenzollern, two other historical territories, Wür ...

. Koch is President of the SFV since 22 October 2011.

German Football Association

upKoch in 2011 In 1996, Koch was made assessor of sports court of the

(Deutscher Fußball-Bund, DFB), to which he was elected chairman in 1998. In this position, Koch was much more involved in the investigation of the Bundesliga scandal 2005. Under his chairmanship, the court imposed the highest fines in the DFB-history for racism from football fans. In October 2007, Koch was elected DFB vice-president and then gave up the chair of the sports court. As DFB vice-president he was involved in fighting against racism and violence in football stadiums. On 25 October 2013, Koch took over the responsibility for amateur football as 1st Vice President of the DFB board. In this capacity, he is chairman of the conference of 21 state and five regional association presidents. This conference advises the DFB Presidium, the DFB Board and the DFB central administration in all issues that affect amateur football. Following the resignation of Wolfgang Niersbach in November 2015, Koch was, along with first Vice President

, statutory acting DFB president. In connection with possible bribes before the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

, on 9 November 2015, Koch demanded a public announcement about the operations from

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (, ; born 11 September 1945) is a German former professional footballer and manager. In his playing career he was nicknamed ''Der Kaiser'' ("The Emperor") because of his elegant style, dominance and leadership on the f ...

and explained that it was absolutely necessary "that he is intensively introduced in the elucidation of the processes." Koch remained president along with Rauball until 15 April 2016.

International Football

From 2002 to 2011, Koch was a member of the Control and Disciplinary Body of UEFA.

Politics

Koch runs since 1990 for the Social Democratic Party of Germany in the city council of

Poing Poing may refer to: * "Poing" (song), a gabber style song * Poing, Bavaria Poing is a municipality in the Upper Bavarian district of Ebersberg, lying east of central Munich. Geography Poing is approximately NE of Munich and is serviced by the ...

and in 2009 was a member of the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the league of states and first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, the intention fr ...

for his party.

Family

Koch is married and has a daughter.

References

{{Authority control Living people 1958 births German football chairmen and investors Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 21st-century German judges Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians