DFB director Oliver Bierhoff rates the first season under national coach Hansi Flick as a successful turning point even before the upcoming Nations League games against European champions Italy, England and Hungary.
Flick succeeded Joachim Löw last summer after the national team was eliminated early in the round of 16 against England.
The national team around captain Manuel Neuer returns to Herzogenaurach on Monday evening to prepare for the end of the season.
The DFB squad also lived and trained at Adidas’ “Home Ground” during the 2021 European Championship finals at the last major tournament with Löw.
“One or the other changed”
“One or the other has changed under Hansi Flick, which was also necessary because we also wanted to go a new way,” said Bierhoff: “I think that with Hansi the team had the feeling that they could start anew .”
With Flick, for example, the ticket to the World Cup in Qatar, which takes place at the end of the year, was bought as the group first. Eight of nine international matches were won. The last game was a draw against the Netherlands.
“Hansi has his own way of doing things,” said Bierhoff to Flick, who was Löw’s assistant from 2006 until winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Flick conveys his ideas very clearly and in “a very good way” to the players and those responsible.
“He has an absolute claim to performance,” stressed Bierhoff. Flick’s goal is to lead the DFB selection back to the top of the world after two bad tournaments (WM 2018, EM 2021).