It took less than two weeks for the DFB to find a successor for Hansi Flick: Julian Nagelsmann is the new national coach. The contract runs until the home European Championships next summer. And he has a big task: to form a team that inspires and succeeds.
“I hope – and I’m not alone – that enthusiasm will be sparked again. Enthusiasm among the spectators, but above all enthusiasm among the players,” said Ralph-Uwe Schaffert, President of the Lower Saxony and North German Football Associations. He summed up the last games of the national team under Hans-Dieter Flick and there was an anxious kicking back and forth on the pitch.
He has only just gotten to know Nagelsmann personally, but he trusts him to awaken self-confidence in the players: “What sticks in my mind is the statement: The players don’t have to study football for years, but we want attractive football again using simple means play.”
Bierhoff’s tasks are distributed across several shoulders
A lot has also changed in the association structure in the past few months. Among other things, the DFB has hired Andreas Rettig as sports director. He takes over some of the tasks that previously fell under Oliver Bierhoff’s area of responsibility.
“Not everything was bad. I don’t want to blame everything on Oliver Bierhoff,” said Schaffert. “But recently he had such a flood of tasks that I had the feeling that some things were neglected. And they then decided to spread the responsibility over several shoulders. I think that makes sense.”
Rummenigee and Mintzlaff have no interest in the choice of sports director
After the preliminary round exit at the World Cup, the DFB also convened a task force. After Rettig signed the contract, both Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Oliver Mintzlaff resigned from this task force – with reference to the “debatable decision” to make Rettig the new managing director.
According to Schaffert, the problem with the DFB task force was that Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Oliver Mintzlaff did not know exactly what the task force was responsible for. Schaffert sees problems in communication.
“It’s not the case that Mr. Rummenigge or Mr. Mintzlaff had to decide who would become the sports director at the DFB. That’s not of any interest to them.” The discussion about the task force is over anyway, because this task force no longer exists.
Criticism of children’s football reform from “supposed experts”
Schaffert also commented on the reform in children’s football, which DFB Vice President Hans-Joachim Watzke and Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart had criticized, among others. “I really appreciate Steffen Baumgart as a coach, but I don’t think he has any idea about children’s football,” said the Dlf sports official.
The resistance to the reform initially came from the popular sports clubs, said Schaffert: “Now it’s working and you have to say: everyone who is experiencing it on site and who is implementing it today is enthusiastic. That’s why I don’t understand this criticism either is then repeatedly stated by supposed experts.”
The accusations that there was no longer any pressure to perform and that the results were no longer there were “missed the point.” Only the classic game form and the table at the end of the season are no longer applicable.