After World Cup debacle
“A lot of impetus”: DFB forms two commissions
Wants to work through the World Cup debacle with expert support: DFB boss Bernd Neuendorf. photo
© Arne Dedert/dpa
The DFB gets a panel of experts on board to work through the World Cup debacle and to realign it for the home EM. An internal working group is also formed. Neuendorf admits mistakes.
With an internal working group and a prominent expert council, the DFB wants to work up the World Cup bankruptcy and realign the national team for the home EM 2024.
The president of the association, Bernd Neuendorf, announced these decisions after the ignominious elimination of the preliminary round in Qatar at his first public appearance at the association’s headquarters in Frankfurt/Main since returning to the World Cup.
The panel of experts includes Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Matthias Sammer, Rudi Völler, Oliver Kahn and Oliver Mintzlaff. All are current or former leading players of the Bundesliga clubs Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig. The working group is headed by Neuendorf and his DFB Vice and DFL Supervisory Board Chairman Hans Joachim Watzke. “We got a group together that is beyond any doubt in terms of competence and expertise,” said Neuendorf.
Neuendorf expects “a lot of impetus”
The DFB boss expects “a lot of impulses” from the council, also with regard to the profile of a person “who can succeed Oliver Bierhoff”. Managing Director Bierhoff had to vacate his post as the first consequence of the World Cup after 18 years in a responsible position for the DFB team. Hertha managing director Fredi Bobic and Rio world champion Per Mertesacker, currently the successful director of Arsenal FC’s youth academy, are considered the most promising successor candidates.
An internal DFB working group is to clarify whether the business area, for which Bierhoff was previously responsible, could possibly be spread over several shoulders. The body, which also includes EM OC boss Philipp Lahm, is supposed to take care of structural issues. “We have to be self-critical here,” warned Neuendorf, who emphasized: “We now need to join forces and join forces to make the EM 2024 a success.”
Mistakes in “One Love” debate
As expected, Neuendorf did not announce any further personnel decisions. It’s about “keeping a cool head and making the right decisions,” said the DFB president, who admitted mistakes in the “One Love” debate: “As presidents of the Europeans, we should have looked for a direct line to Gianni Infantino , have to ask what FIFA’s position is, we get a binding statement.”
Neuendorf also explained why national coach Hansi Flick can continue. During the World Cup analysis at Flick, he felt “great energy”, “that he wants to organize the EM in his own country under all circumstances and feels a great desire to do so”.
It’s not the first working group around the national team. In 2000, national coach Erich Ribbeck had to leave after the preliminary round of the European Championship. The national team task force, which, in addition to Rummenigge, also included Uli Hoeneß, his brother Dieter Hoeneß, Klaus Allofs, Rudi Assauer and Völler as the recently appointed DFB team manager, initiated a concept for promoting young talent. In addition, the schedule of the DFB-Elf was influenced and a concept for a so-called Team 2006 as a perspective selection for the home World Cup was developed.
Just four years later, another expert committee had to be set up. After Völler’s resignation as a result of the early failure of the European Championships in Portugal, the so-called coach selection committee headed by Franz Beckenbauer looked for a new national coach. After several rejections, the choice fell on Jürgen Klinsmann. When the sporting goals under the reform-zealous national coach seemed in danger in autumn 2005, another task force was set up, this time under the title “National Team Working Group” with Uli Hoeneß as the driving force.
DFB Sporting Director National Team Dates National Team