Union manager Oliver Ruhnert Photo: picture alliance / augenklick/Sebastian El-Saqqa /
From the BZ editorial team
Rudi Völler (62) should get the national team going again as the successor to Oliver Bierhoff (54). At the same time, the DFB is still looking for a doer for the long-term strategy and youth academy.
A name comes up often: Oliver Ruhnert (51), the Union manager and from 2011 to 2017 head of the Schalke Knappenschmiede.
In the BILD TV show DIE LAGE DER LIGA, moderator Valentin Maceri confronted him with the thesis: “Union boss Zingler said in SPORT BILD: ‘Perhaps one day Oliver Ruhnert will succeed Rudi Völler at the DFB.’ Right or nonsense?”
Ruhnert: “I don’t think it’s nonsense that you put people there who have an idea of how to develop youth players and push something that makes sense in the long run. And who don’t constantly fabricate this nonsense when it comes to game operations, courses and all of that stuff. I’m not talking about the senior national team, they found a good solution with Rudi Völler.”
Ruhnert on the (ultimately failed) commitment of ex-real star Isco in January: “With Max Kruse everyone said: It’s a crazy idea. We had several crazy ideas that worked quite well. So why would Isco be such a crazy idea? He’s not the first player to fail. That’s just part of it.”