Already held office in 2018
Hrubesch takes over DFB women on an interim basis
October 7, 2023, 3:06 p.m
In the Nations League with Horst Hrubesch: The 72-year-old is making his comeback with the women’s national soccer team. On an interim basis, he is taking over the duties of Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, who is ill. Hrubesch already held the office in 2018.
The German Football Association is bringing Horst Hrubesch back: The 72-year-old is temporarily taking over the position of national women’s coach from the ill Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. The DFB announced this. “For me, it’s a matter of the heart. I didn’t have to think long about the request,” said Hrubesch, according to the HSV statement. Hrubesch had already led the team for eight months in 2018.
“I’m looking forward to working together with the team. Together we will try to develop a good starting position for Olympic qualification in the remaining games of the Nations League,” said Hrubesch. Assistant coach Britta Carlson, who looked after the team in the two games in the Nations League against Denmark (0:2) and Iceland (4:0) after the World Cup debacle, supports Hrubesch together with assistant coach Thomas Nörenberg, whom he hired from HSV brings with it. Nörenberg was already assistant coach to Hrubesch and Voss-Tecklenburg at the DFB women before he left the team after the successful European Championship last year with the runner-up title in the European Championship. Michael Urbansky, Carlson’s previous assistant coach, is moving to the female U-team as DFB coach.
For Voss-Tecklenburg, these personnel changes do not mean any changes for the time being. She is still on sick leave and officially remains in office. Her contract runs until 2025. Her reaction to the personnel change is not yet known. Hrubesch and Nörenberg are taking over their jobs “until further notice”.
Hrubesch also stays with HSV
Voss-Tecklenburg’s absence had recently become increasingly a burden. The analysis of the World Cup debacle with the first elimination in the group phase could not be completed. The national players had also called for a solution to the situation.
Hrubesch’s comeback comes more than five years after his first assignment as women’s national coach. As the successor to Steffi Jones, he had already taken over the position once in March 2018. He was then succeeded by Voss-Tecklenburg. At that time he gave the unsettled team security again, and reports about his time in office are extremely positive. He is said to have had a good relationship with the players – and is still in contact with some of them to this day. He is also familiar with other DFB teams: in 2017 he was interim sports director, he won the European Championship title with the men’s U21 team in 2009 and was a silver medalist with the Olympic team in 2016.
For the 2020/21 season, Hrubesch returned to Hamburger SV after 37 years and took over the position of youth director in the youth performance center. He will continue to do this, according to HSV.
Hrubesch will be officially presented by the DFB the week after next. He will then also announce the squads for the upcoming games. For the DFB women, qualifying for the Olympic Games via the Nations League is on the agenda. After one win and one defeat, everything is still open for the team. The next game is on October 27th, when the DFB plays against Wales in Sinsheim, followed by the second leg against Denmark in Rostock on December 1st.