The era of official Oliver Bierhoff at the German Football Association is over after 18 years. The EM hero of 1996 undoubtedly made a great contribution to the DFB and especially the national team. In the end, however, the 54-year-old lost his grasp of the base.
Oliver Bierhoff has always been a fighter. As a player who was not blessed with the greatest talent, he had to take several detours before he made his breakthrough in Italy at Ascoli Calcio and later shot Germany with a golden goal to victory at the European Championship – as a substitute, incidentally. When the native of Karlsruhe started his career with the DFB in 2004, he had to fight again. Against encrusted structures and resistance.
So it was not surprising that Bierhoff showed himself combative when the “team”, as he once called the national team, had declared the third sporting bankruptcy declaration in a row at a major tournament in Qatar. “I’ve been here for 18 years. Maybe you look at the entire balance sheet objectively. I have a good feeling about myself there,” said the managing director of national teams and academies, his official title with the DFB since 2022, immediately after the preliminary round at the desert world cup.
Public pressure on Bierhoff was too great
Bierhoff seemed ready to fight on. At least that’s how it sounded from his lips. At first glance, the fact that he canceled his contract a few days later may seem like an admission of his own failure. Like a fighter’s task. Presumably, however, the 54-year-old was given no choice but to resign from the DFB leadership.
The former reformer and visionary had become a kind of “lightning rod” for the disappointing performances of the national team, as the “Spiegel” aptly wrote.
Bierhoff and Klinsmann turn DFB on the left
When Bierhoff started as team manager of the national team at the DFB in 2004, things were even worse for the figurehead of German football than they are now. Much worse. Unlike now, the team lacked quality and talent. Together with Jürgen Klinsmann, Bierhoff turned the DFB inside out. “I would like to have very close contact with the players. Especially with the young players, because we’re all talking about a change,” he said.
The new generation around Lukas Podolski, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Co. got new input. Among other things, American fitness trainers were hired and Buddha statues were set up in the DFB quarter. Michael Ballack, captain of the national team at the time, complained about the “beer hoarding” of the selection team. However, the up-and-coming youngsters quickly got used to the feel-good oasis created by Bierhoff.
Bierhoff also deserves credit for the 2014 World Cup victory
Sporting success came surprisingly quickly. The home World Cup in 2006, the legendary summer fairy tale, was the birth of a team that continued to develop, inspired with modern offensive football and won the title at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. The team was a sworn unit. The “Spirit of Campo Bahia” has often been spoken of as one of the secrets of success.
Incidentally, Bierhoff was responsible for the team quarters on the Atlantic coast. He had pushed it through against great resistance in the association.
Holding on to national coach Loew for too long
The team, according to Bierhoff’s marketing slogan, was at the peak of its popularity. A million people received the Rio heroes on the fan mile in Berlin. “One noticed from the first moment: ‘The boys, they want it’. They did a great job,” said Bierhoff. “Super” ran less and less afterwards.
At the EM 2016, the DFB selection failed in the semi-finals. The World Cup two years later even turned into a fiasco: it was over after the group phase. Bierhoff nevertheless stuck to national coach Joachim Löw, who had long since lost his magic. This decision was perhaps not questioned more deeply by the association because trench warfare paralyzed the DFB.
Fans lose interest in national team
Bierhoff continued to push ahead with the construction of the DFB Academy and thus set the course for the future. However, he could no longer get the national team under control. The appearances and the public image of the team were too often too bad. Interest in the former premium product “The Team” waned.
The round of 16 at the EM 2021 was, to put it in the words of the former team boss Rudi Völler, a “lower low point from the low point”. And what did Bierhoff do? He’s been acting predictably for a long time now. For the retired Löw, he hired his former assistant coach Hansi Flick as the new national coach. Although he had won almost every title that is awarded in world football with FC Bayern Munich, it was still not the creative solution that might have been needed after years of sporting decline.
Bierhoff lacked the view for the basis
Qatar could have been the turning point for the national team. Flick had perhaps the most talented German team since the 2014 World Cup title. But unlike the Rio heroes, Flick’s footballers lacked drive and charisma. The preliminary round was absolutely avoidable, but hardly anyone was interested in football in Germany anyway.
A circumstance for which Bierhoff is also responsible. In the course of his tenure, the 54-year-old has lost the sense of how football is talked about in pubs, offices and amateur dressing rooms. In addition to the right instinct, what he lacked in the end was one thing above all else: sporting success.
New impetus urgently needed
Bierhoff’s replacement at the DFB was overdue. In 18 months, the home EM begins and with it the hope of a summer fairy tale revival. His successor has to clear out the DFB feel-good oasis and turn everything inside out. Just like Bierhoff did 18 years ago…