What makes coach Christian Streich so special

Farewell to an icon: Christian Streich Image: Nordphoto

The withdrawal from SC Freiburg says a lot about Christian Streich’s value system, and the admiration for him says a lot about present-day Germany. But perhaps, for once, he didn’t say what he really thought when he said goodbye.

Even after more than twelve years in the light of the media thirsting for emotions, originality and clarity, Christian Streich sometimes seems astonished by the force that his statements can develop. In many cases, the SC Freiburg coach ends up just putting things into words that are self-evident before social media goes abuzz because one of his comments about world events goes viral.

At the end of the season, the 58-year-old Streich will now withdraw from this public sphere, which he has enriched in an astonishing way, in which he was celebrated for his direct and genuine manner, but which was always somewhat suspicious of him. “Of course this particular form of perception deforms me,” he told the magazine “11Freunde” last summer.