Johannes Klein is a soon-to-be 17-year-old citizen of Germany who is living with his great-uncle in Iowa attending school as a junior at an accredited nonpublic school. He played club soccer in Germany. Secondary schools in Europe do not generally offer athletic teams as either co- or extracurricular activities.

Notre Dame has a cooperative sharing agreement with West Burlington Public High School. The school did not file an application for approval for foreign exchange student eligibility with IHSAA until Johannes had participated in 3 varsity interscholastic football games, losing one and winning two. When IHSAA received the application, Johannes'eligibility was denied because of Johannes' status as a foreign non-exchange program student. The school also had to forfeit its two victories from the contests in which Johannes had participated.

The school argued that being a foreign non-exchange student is a "similar circumstance to the explicit exception for a foreign exchange student."

The Iowa Legislature made a policy determination that only foreign exchange students are to be considered for immediate eligibility in Iowa Code section 256.46.

That the decision of the Board of Control made on October 6, 2005, that Johannes Klein was ineligible for 90 school days was affirmed.