 Between 1980 and 1985, he worked as a judge in Koblenz before joining the government of Rhineland-Palatinate as a representative of the CDU.In 1992, Zwanziger entered the DFB as a member of the executive board ("Mitglied des Vorstandes").He was a vital part of the groundbreaking 2001 decision to grant autonomy to the German Bundesliga professional teams, letting them organise themselves in the DFL (Deutsche Fußball-Liga).