Christian Wück becomes the new national coach of the DFB women. Recently he only coached youth teams. Whether that’s for him falls on your feet?
First European champions, then the World Cup title: German football fans were spoiled by the U17 national team last year. Architect of the triumphs: Coach Christian Wück, who formed a real team out of the teenagers with infectious enthusiasm, exciting play and passionate cohesion. After the Olympic Games in the summer, he should repeat this feat with the German women’s national team. Then the 50-year-old takes over from interim coach Horst Hrubesch.
Wück stands for what the DFB is currently missing: success – which not only the DFB women need again. However, the world’s largest individual sports association trusts a coach who has never worked in women’s football before. So it won’t be easy for him. On the contrary. A mammoth task awaits Wück, a new start – and yet he could be exactly the right person for it.
Wück will have to initiate a change after the Olympics – there is a risk of several departures: In addition to captain Alexandra Popp, the future of long-standing regulars such as Marina Hegering and Svenja Huth is also unclear. Wück’s advantage: He will have to bring in a lot of new, young players – his experience from the German youth teams can help him with this.
Wück has help right there
He doesn’t have to start from scratch: Hrubesch recently did without well-known players, instead relying on 22-year-old Vivien Endemann from VfL Wolfsburg and nominating proven European vice champions like Lina Magull or Lena Lattwein only on demand.
Last year, Wück demonstrated that he can shape and lead a team. He brings an outside perspective – and he has an assistant coach at his side, Maren Meinert, who herself celebrated major titles as a player (European champion in 1995, 1997, 2001; World champion in 2003).
Above all, Meinert can help Wück to internalize the differences to men’s football more quickly, which the Dutch women’s national coach Andries Jonker once described so aptly: “With men it’s always: Me. I have to play, I have to perform, I have to extend my contract, I have to change. It’s always about the player himself. That’s not wrong. But it is what it is. With women it’s: Us. What can we do? How can we play together? How do we improve “Men are motivated, women are dedicated. It has more value.”
And before the criticism gets louder that Wück is the wrong person because of his lack of experience in women’s football: Do you remember? When Hrubesch took over the position of national coach on an interim basis as Steffi Jones’ successor for the first time in 2018, he came into a new world for him without any in-depth prior knowledge. He has now learned to love women’s football and has been very successful.
Christian Wück can now open a new chapter with the German women’s national team – for the team, but also for himself. It’s a mammoth task – now he just has to show that he’s really the right person for it.