dpa
Berlin/Munich
Hansi Flick remains Germany coach despite a group stage exit at the Qatar World Cup and is to lead the team to the Euro 2024 tournament on home ground, the German Football Federation (DFB) said on Wednesday.
The announcement came after Flick had met with DFB president Bernd Neuendorf and German Football League (DFL) supervisory board head Hans-Joachim Watzke in a hotel on the outskirts of Frankfurt to explain what had gone wrong in Qatar.
“We are jointly convinced that the 2024 European Championship in our own country represents a great opportunity for football in Germany,” Neuendorf said in a DFB statement.
“Our goal is to make this tournament a sporting success. We have full confidence in Hansi Flick that he will master this challenge together with his team.” Flick said: “I have confidence in the joint path we agreed on today with Bernd Neuendorf and Aki Watzke. We all want the whole of Germany to rally behind the national team again at the 2024 European Championship at home.”
Oliver Bierhoff was originally also to be present but he has resigned from his post as national team director in the wake of the third disappointing tournament in a row for the team, the other being a last-16 exit at Euro 2020. Flick had said right after the Qatar exit he wanted to stay but then expressed deep frustration that Bierhoff was leaving in a statement Tuesday.
He said he his team “are finding it difficult to imagine how the void created by Oliver’s departure can be filled, both professionally and personally.” This was seen by some as a suggestion Flick may also throw in the towel after just one year at the helm, given that he also left Bayern Munich last year mainly over a strained relationship with board member for sport Hasan Salihamidzic.
Neuendorf said on Wednesday that a successor for Bierhoff would not be named until the DFB has discussed “the future structure of this area of responsibility.”
Flick was Germany assistant coach under Joachim Löw from 2006 until the 2014 World Cup title and then succeeded him last year on a contract until after the 2024 Euros.
He won his first eight games in charge of the national team but only three of the 11 since then.
His tactics and substitutions were questioned after last week’s Qatar exit from a 2-1 defeat against Japan, a 1-1 draw with Spain and a meaningless 4-2 win over Costa Rica.
“We as a team can achieve much more than we showed in Qatar. We missed a great opportunity there. We will learn our lessons from this,” Flick said defiantly on Wednesday.
A survey by Kicker sports magazine had revealed that more than 50% of those participating favoured a new coach for a fresh start heading into the Euros for which Germany as directly entered hosts will only be preparing with friendlies from March onwards.
But most pundits had called for Flick to get a second chance because he proved with six titles - including the 2020 treble - during his 18-month reign in Munich that he can have success. The team had also backed him, with centre back Antonio Rüdiger saying “I hope he stays - period.”
