Hansi Flick was concerned about the departure of his “first contact and friend” Oliver Bierhoff from the German Football Association (DFB) and openly asked questions about the future.
“My coaching team and I are finding it difficult at the moment to imagine how the gap created by Oliver’s departure can be closed professionally and personally,” said the national coach in a statement published on Tuesday.
Flick: Bierhoff “first contact and friend”
Bierhoff, who resigned on Monday, has in the 18 years of his work “set professional and human standards”. German football “and the national team in particular owe him a lot”. Bierhoff have reforms “Propelled forward with great personal commitment and against much resistance”. Bierhoff is for him “my first point of contact and friend within the team”the ratio of “invaluable trust” been coined: “This trust is and remains the greatest asset in football.”
On Tuesday, Bierhoff and the DFB terminated the DFB director’s contract, which ran until the 2024 European Championships at home. Bierhoff has been in charge of the national team since 2004, first as team manager and later as director.
Flick’s own future open
Flick made no secret of the fact that he was losing his most important partner. “The last few days have not been easy”, he confessed: “We had the project EM 2024 in Germany as a common goal.” Whether Flick will do it without Bierhoff is an open question.