For the first time in the history of the DFB, a national coach has been dismissed. Julian Nagelsmann came after Hansi Flick, and the doubts surrounding Germany’s national soccer team remained at the end of the year.
The most important hour in sports history for Germany in 2023 was on September 10th between 4 and 5 p.m. It would have become that even without football, because in Manila in the Philippines the basketball players became world champions for the first time.
At 4:40 p.m. German time, the breaking news of the final win against Serbia was shown on the news ticker, which had already reported urgent matters 14 minutes earlier. “HANSI FLICK FIRED AS FEDERAL COACH (OFFICIAL),” was the headline of the sports information service.
Sporting history was officially written, because the German Football Association (DFB), which has existed since 1900 and appointed a head coach for its elite selection for the first time in 1926, had never before fired or released such a head coach, as is correctly stated under labor law.
A disastrous documentary of failure
Hansi Flick is also the first national coach whose national team never made it past the group stage of a major tournament. The failure at the World Cup in Qatar was by no means enough for the DFB to be released. The association, with President Bernd Neuendorf at the top and a very influential task force as whisperers, initially swore loyalty to Flick and considered him suitable to be responsible for the 2024 European Championship, which is also of social and economic importance.
The end in Qatar later proved to be his downfall, as the failure was followed up close by a film team and broadcast months later. Two days after the greylag geese, Hansi Flick also flew. Ostensibly, a 4-1 defeat in Wolfsburg against Japan was responsible for this, but the gray, helpless impression that the national coach left behind for everyone to see in the documentary series “All or Nothing” may have played an important role in the historic sporting decision.
“The committees agreed that the senior men’s national team needs new impetus after the recent disappointing results. We need a spirit of optimism and confidence with a view to the European Championships in our own country,” Neuendorf is quoted as saying in the statement dated September 10th .
At first the DFB liked the direction
In the days that followed, things went in a direction that the DFB liked. With Rudi Völler as interim Rudi, the national team won against France, with the new national coach Julian Nagelsmann they won against the USA in the USA and achieved a draw against Mexico.
Nagelsmann had promised to adapt his working style to the circumstances, which at the DFB mean that he has significantly less time for work on the training pitch than at a club.
Then came the first international match with Nagelsmann in Germany, and it became complicated – in every respect. After the defeat against Turkey, there was another one in Austria, a very sobering one, which created a mood that knows neither the words “departure” nor “confidence”.
Burkhard Hupe, Sportschau, December 20, 2023 1:59 p.m
Since football won’t be played again until March 2024, Nagelsmann used an appearance on ZDF’s “Sportstudio” to assure that it would now be really uncomplicated, that there would really be no more experimentation, and that Manuel Neuer would probably be at the EURO will be in goal in 2024.
The DFB announced that it would not allow an external film team to attend the tournament.
