Football new national coach
Felix Magath is not giving up on Flick’s successor
As of: 6:29 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
Felix Magath
What: Sky
When looking for a national coach, we first contacted Julian Nagelsmann. But not to Felix Magath yet. He could well imagine himself in the position. “I think I have the confidence to do that,” says the 70-year-old.
The German Football Association is said to have made initial contact with Julian Nagelsmann when looking for a new national coach. The “Bild” newspaper, among others, reported on this this Thursday. The 36-year-old is still contractually bound to FC Bayern, who released him from all duties last March. Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeneß had already indicated that Nagelsmann’s move to the DFB would “certainly not fail” at FC Bayern.
But the calculation was made without Felix Magath. At least for now. The smoke had barely cleared when the bombshell of Hansi Flick’s dismissal burst when the 70-year-old got into position. He was ready, there was hardly anyone better for the job, that was his message. Tenor: Why search for so long when I’m so obvious?
In any case, Magath’s campaign on his own behalf began at the beginning of the week on NDR. The DFB now needs a coach who is able to rebuild the “completely unsettled national team”, he postulated: “And I think that I am able to rebuild unsettled teams and give them so much trust that They are performing very well again.” In some cases he “led teams from the bottom of the table to midfield or even back to the top of the Bundesliga. And I think that’s what the DFB needs at the moment.”
Nagelsmann, van Gaal – and Magath?
What German football needed a little later was apparently Rudi Völler in the coaching bench, the national team surprisingly won against runner-up world champions France. He just didn’t want to continue. That’s why we heard a lot about Nagelsmann as a successor in the follow-up, the name Louis van Gaal also came up often, only Magath didn’t appear that often, apart from Dietmar Hamann.
also read
He was contacted by the German Press Agency and Magath, yes, if he thinks about it that way, why not? “That wouldn’t be a popular decision, Magath’s reputation hangs over him like a cloud,” outlined Hamann, “but I could imagine that Felix would do that immediately.”
“The team felt let down by Hansi Flick”
After Flick’s expulsion and the subsequent 2-1 win against France, the question remains as to who will be the new national coach. It could be someone from abroad, “someone with knowledge of German,” says former national player Dietmar Hamann in an interview with WELT.
That turned out to be a slight exaggeration. Because if Magath wasn’t on vacation to, as he told Sky broadcaster, “be fit for any tasks that may come in the future,” you could also imagine him lurking in front of the doors of the DFB headquarters. To be there first when they open up, for him, who knows?
In any case, Magath didn’t really let up. It seemed like he didn’t want to miss the opportunity. As he reported to Sky, “the phone is standing still” for him. Nevertheless, he is of the opinion that “an experienced coach would be better for the German soccer team.” Someone like him versus Nagelsmann means 70 versus 36 years old – a clear matter in itself. Only the DFB still hadn’t called him at that point.
also read
National football team
But that didn’t seem to bother Magath. He played through what would happen if someone were to pick up the phone. For him it would work like this: “It’s the case that you first have to talk about a job – regardless of whether it’s the national coaching job, doctor or something else. What are the ideas on one side and what are the ideas on the other?” In this respect, he “can’t say today: I want to do it. All I can say is: I think I can do it.”
As a coach, Magath won the championship twice with FC Bayern and once with VfL Wolfsburg. Most recently, he took over the then Bundesliga club Hertha BSC in mid-March 2022. He was able to save the Berliners from relegation in the relegation, and then he left the club. Now he’s sitting in the sun, on vacation. And waits for that one call.
“It’s not always the best individual players that are suitable, but the right team players”
The football victory against France gives Germany’s national team a boost again. But what did interim national coach Rudi Völler do differently than Hansi Flick? In a WELT interview, sports scientist Ingo Froböse explains how the German team ended its losing streak.
