Former Bayern coach Hansi Flick signed the contract as the new national coach after the European Football Championship on Tuesday. The working paper of the 56-year-old former co-trainer of Joachim Löw is valid until after the home European championship in 2024. His contract with the German record champions had been terminated prematurely at Flick’s request. In his 19 months as coach of the old and new masters, Flick had won seven titles.
For Flick, the top job is a return. In 2006 Löw made him his assistant after the World Cup summer fairy tale and his own promotion to national coach. Flick has already stood on the sidelines as the responsible coach at an important international match. When Löw was banned from UEFA in the EM quarter-finals in 2008, the national team won with him as a temporary coach in Basel 3-2 against Portugal. As Löw’s assistant coach, Flick led the German team to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The first international matches as the new boss are now up for Flick in the World Cup qualification against Liechtenstein, Armenia and Iceland in September. This year there will be two more competitive games each in October and November. “It all went surprisingly quickly for me with the signature, but I am very happy to be able to work as a national coach from the fall,” said Flick after signing the contract. “The season has just ended and the two years at Bayern Munich are still having a strong impact on me. The team spirit and the attitude of the players were outstanding, and I am taking away a lot that will continue to shape my work.”
DFB prevails against the competition in advertising for Flick
With Flick’s signature at the DFB, where he was also the sports director from September 2014 to the beginning of 2017, the association has the hoped-for clarity on the most important employee position before the EM. “We have an incredibly good, close and very trusting relationship,” said DFB director Oliver Bierhoff, who is responsible for the search for national coaches, recently, “but it’s no secret that Hansi is an interesting man and that other clubs and associations are very interested wakes up. “
But the crisis-ridden DFB now stood out. After winning the German championship again, his seventh title with Bayern, Flick had emphasized that he was “open to anything”. However, there was already a clear trend to be seen. “Working with Oliver Bierhoff, Jogi Löw and Andreas Köpke back then was a lot of fun,” he said: “There was enormous appreciation, enormous loyalty that drives me. These things are there, I have a deep trust in them Oliver Bierhoff. “
There are tricky tasks waiting for Flick: The upheaval that Löw had interrupted for the European Championship has to be continued, young players have to be built up and firmly integrated. He also has to build a new framework for experienced leaders by the 2022 World Cup in just one and a half years – continue with the returnees Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels? Or maybe again with younger people?
Flick can count on his excellent relationship with the Munich block of the national team – around captain Manuel Neuer and Müller, eight (!) Bayern professionals match the EM squad. They all had wept publicly about his departure from Munich, Neuer called him “very sad”. In Munich, Flick rose to “best coach in the world” in just one and a half years. Club colleague Leroy Sané therefore spoke of a “good catch” for the DFB.
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