The 47-year-old sports scientist takes over from Vesper, who has held the position since 2006 and will step down after he reached the age limit of 65 in April.

The decision to select Rücker came following a meeting of the DOSB Presidium in Berlin.

DOSB officials carried out a "an intensive analysis of the future tasks and the resulting requirements profile" before the Bureau agreed that Vesper's successor should be appointed from their own ranks.

Rücker has been working for the management academy of DOSB for more than ten years.

Since 2015, she has also been responsible for the strategic direction and operational management of the DOSB, led by President Alfons Hörmann.

The DOSB praised Rücker's "extensive experience and of many years of work in the sporting system of Germany" and claimed she was the "ideal chair of the Board who will meet these requirements promptly in the sense of a smooth transition".

"An exciting task is waiting for me, which I am tackling with great motivation together with the Board of management and the colleagues of the DOSB," said Rücker. 

"I am looking forward to pushing forward the implementation of the processes that I have been able to shape intensively in the past two years, and to re-position DOSB both nationally and internationally."

Rücker was previously responsible for the business areas of further education and consulting at the leadership academy and was responsible for communications and public relations. 

The sports scientist has also worked at the Deutsche Sporthochschule in Cologne, the largest sports university in Europe which has over 6,000 students.

"Veronika Rücker has all the professional and human requirements for a successful management of the DOSB," Hörmann said.

"She is able to moderate processes even in difficult situations and to create partnership-based forms of interest compensation. 

"With her decades of experience across all levels of the German sports system, she will quickly become an accepted partner both nationally and internationally."