German specialist Kunc has been confirmed as the head coach of the Turkish national football team

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Štefans Kuncs | Photo: DW

German football coach Stefan Kunz has been confirmed as the head coach of the Turkish national team, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) said. The contract with the 58-year-old coach is concluded for three years.

“The TFF Executive Committee is nearing the end of the talks and will allow Stefan Kunc to take up the role of head coach of the national team,” the statement said. “We hope that this decision will benefit Turkish football.”

Hamit Altintops, general manager of the Turkish national team, told the DPA news agency that Kunc was the best candidate for the position. Jürgen Klinsman from Germany and Andriy Shevchenko from Ukraine were also named as potential candidates for the position of head coach.

Prior to working with German youth teams, Kunc led lower league teams. Former striker Kunz once played for the German national team, but at club level he spent one of his career seasons in Turkey, representing Istanbul’s Besiktas. Kunz was crowned European Champion in 1996 as a member of the German national team. Under his leadership, the German U-21 national team played three European Championships in a row in the finals, winning gold medals in 2017 and 2021.

Former Turkish national team coach Chenol Guinness resigned after losing to the Netherlands with a 1: 6 World Cup qualifier. The Turkish national team has not been able to qualify for the World Cup Main Event since 2002, when it unexpectedly won bronze awards.

The Turkish national team in the World Cup qualification is in one subgroup together with the Latvian national team and currently takes the third place, two points behind the Netherlands and Norway.

Kunca’s first game, leading the Turkish team, will be a qualifying game against Norway on October 8, followed by away games against the Latvian national team on October 11 at the Daugava Stadium.