DFB boss Bernd Neuendorf has already spoken out after the embarrassing end of the World Cup in the preliminary round – and announced a crisis meeting with national coach Hansi Flick and DFB manager Oliver Bierhoff. After the second failure in a group phase, must personnel consequences for the sporting leadership follow one after the other? According to a current Forsa survey commissioned by RTL and ntv, the citizens do not see it that way, they are still behind Flick and his team.
Accordingly, 47 percent believe that Hansi Flick should remain national coach despite the premature departure of the German national team. Relatively few respondents (16 percent) instead think that he is not (or no longer) the right man for the job. A relatively large number of respondents (37 percent) have no opinion on this.
But even if only one percent of those surveyed blame the coach for the World Cup embarrassment, they still accuse Flick of making mistakes. 18 percent think that the tactics or the line-up are mainly responsible for the early elimination. And 15 percent think the composition of the squad is the most important reason. But the discussions off the pitch – for example about the “One Love” bandage – are a big topic in this regard (15 percent).
Meanwhile, only 19 percent of all those surveyed believe that Oliver Bierhoff, as sporting director of the national team, is still the right person for this position. Significantly more respondents (30 percent) are convinced that others are better suited and that he should give up the position.
Experts have a clear opinion
Experts had previously brought Hansi Flick’s expulsion into play: Lothar Matthäus not only counted the DFB leaders, but also the national coach and captain Manuel Neuer and vice-captain Thomas Müller. “There hasn’t been any sporting success in the past five years,” emphasizes the 61-year-old.
“Sky” expert Didi Hamann became even clearer after the World Cup disaster of the German national soccer team in Qatar. The former international said: “I think there’s no way we can continue with the coach after this debacle.” The early failure is “the end of a great football nation”.
Flick and Bierhoff want to continue
For Flick himself, however, the question of continuing does not even arise, as he emphasized. The national coach ruled out a lightning resignation after the World Cup embarrassment and asserted: “I enjoy it. We have a good team, good players who will follow, so it’s not up to me.” Flick still has a contract until 2024 and is already looking forward to the European Championships at home in the same year.
DFB director Oliver Bierhoff also does not want to draw any personal conclusions despite the national soccer team failing again in the World Cup preliminary round. “I’m ruling that out right now,” said the 54-year-old on Thursday after beating Costa Rica. Bierhoff referred to his 18 years of work for the DFB and warned to look at his entire record: “I have a very good feeling about myself.”
Let’s see if the DFB crisis meeting changes anything about these settings.
Information on the Forsa survey:
The data was collected by the market and opinion research institute Forsa on behalf of RTL and ntv on December 2, 2022.
Database: 1006 respondents
Statistical error tolerance: +/- 3 percentage points.