He would be the first DFB coach with this balance
National coach Nagelsmann threatens historical series of defeats
07.09.2025 – 9:59 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
After Hansi Flick lost three games in a row as a former national coach, he had to go. Julian Nagelsmann has to avert a historical series of defeat against Northern Ireland.
It is about the qualification for the World Cup next year, but for national coach Julian Nagelsmann it is also about a turn. After the 0-2 defeat against Slovakia, the coach is asked with the DFB team on Sunday evening (from 8:45 p.m. in the T-Online Live Tickier) in Cologne against Northern Ireland. Should the German team lose again, Nagelsmann would have set up a historical negative series.
For the first time in over a century, Germany would collect four defeats in a row. Most recently, this was the case in 1913 – then Germany even lost seven games in a row.
Even before this series, the national team had lost its first four international matches in 1908 and 1909 before at least the first draw succeeded in 3: 3 in Hungary.
For Nagelsmann there is a lot at stake on Sunday. He could be the first coach to go down in history, who loses four times in a row with the DFB team. Before the appointment of Otto Nerz as the Reich trainer in 1926 there was no responsible coach in the current sense.
There were five games without a win in international history, most recently between March and September 2023 under Hansi Flick as national coach. After the games against Belgium (2: 3), Ukraine (3: 3), Poland (0: 1), Colombia (0: 2) and Japan (1: 4), Nagelsmann’s predecessor had to go after 25 international matches and three defeats.
In March, Germany received a dramatic 3: 3 against Italy in the quarter-final second leg of the Nations League. The 1-2 against Portugal and a 0: 2 against France followed in the final Four of the competition and now the 0: 2 against Slovakia.
Despite the pressure, Nagelsmann remains calm. “To be afraid is never good,” he said at the press conference before the Northern Ireland game. He was “brave enough” and still wanted to “win every game”.