Result of the DFB crisis meeting
Hansi Flick remains national coach despite World Cup embarrassment
12/07/2022, 6:23 p.m
Hansi Flick remains national coach. The German Football Association (DFB) announced this six days after the World Cup embarrassment in Qatar. According to an analysis of the Qatar bankruptcy with DFB President Bernd Neuendorf and his deputy Hans-Joachim Watzke, Flick will fulfill his contract by the home European Championship in 2024.
When Hansi Flick roared away in his black service limousine after the two-and-a-half-hour crisis summit, he was certain. The 57-year-old is allowed to keep his post as national coach despite Qatar’s crashing World Cup defeat – and should lead the German national soccer team to new successes at the home European Championship. After Flick’s eagerly awaited meeting with DFB President Bernd Neuendorf and Vice Hans-Joachim Watzke, the association let “white smoke” rise for the public. Flick will fulfill his 18-month contract – in the hope of a summer fairy tale 2.0.
“My coaching team and I are optimistic about the European Championships in our own country. We as a team can achieve much more than we showed in Qatar,” Flick was quoted as saying in a DFB statement after the intensive talks at the Kempinski Hotel Gravenbruch in Neu-Isenburg . After the round in the noble hostel, Neuendorf reported: “We have full confidence in Hansi Flick that he will master this challenge together with his team.”
Watzke was the first person involved to arrive at 1:57 p.m. under cloudy skies, Neuendorf followed at 2:06 p.m. Flick came last in the round of three, dressed all in black at 2:26 p.m. After the analysis, it was clear: Flick will continue. At 5 p.m., he pulled out of the parking garage and drove away.
Flick took over from Joachim Löw after the 2021 European Championship and sparked a certain initial euphoria under his former boss after the leaden late phase. He set a starting record with eight wins and confidently led the national team to the controversial tournament in the desert. But Flick never found a first eleven for Qatar.
Joint project is now Flick’s mammoth task
After the World Cup false start against Japan (1:2) and the encouragement against Spain (1:1), the final victory against Costa Rica (4:2) could no longer prevent the second preliminary round of the DFB selection at a World Cup. However, on the night of the failure, Flick announced that he wanted to fulfill his contract.
Oliver Bierhoff, Flick’s confidant and most important contact person at the DFB, originally intended to do the same. But the managing director said goodbye to the association on Monday after 18 years – a separation that Flick mourned in a sensational statement the next day. In doing so, he started speculation that he might even quit out of anger and disappointment at the loss. Especially since Flick is not in the negotiating position to have a say in the succession plan. Fredi Bobic is traded as a candidate.
The home European Championship, however, emphasized Flick, was “the joint project” between Bierhoff and him. Now he has to tackle it alone – and regain lost confidence in his qualities as a coach. Flick is facing a mammoth task, he doesn’t have much time – and only test games until the European Championships, starting in March. In 19 international matches under his direction so far there have been eleven wins, six draws and two defeats (52:17 goals): The one against Japan at the World Cup, plus one in the Nations League against outsiders Hungary (0:1).
Before returning to the DFB, where he was Löw’s assistant and later sports director during the 2014 World Cup triumph in Brazil, Flick coached FC Bayern. There he had prematurely ended his extremely successful engagement with a total of seven titles in 2021 due to major differences with sports director Hasan Salihamidzic. His time as national coach, on the other hand, continues.