Bierhoff successor
Report: Ex-world footballer Nadine Kessler is to become DFB managing director
According to a media report, Nadine Kessler (right) is to become the new DFB managing director
© Sven Beyrich / DPA
According to a media report, Nadine Kessler is to become the new DFB managing director and succeed Oliver Bierhoff. The DFB confirms talks – but also with other candidates.
According to a media report, the German Football Association is treading a revolutionary path when it comes to filling the post of managing director and is recruiting Nadine Kessler to succeed Oliver Bierhoff. The former national player should share the tasks of the former DFB directors and will be responsible for the academy and national teams in the future, as the Munich “Abendzeitung” reported on Thursday. The new technical director is to be the current U20 selection coach Hannes Wolf, as previously reported by the “Frankfurter Rundschau”.
According to the media report, Kessler’s move to the DFB could be officially announced in the coming weeks. The talks have progressed so far that the contracts are already being drawn up. The DFB later in the evening confirmed talks with the former national player, “but there are other candidates,” said DFB media director Steffen Simon of the German Press Agency: “We are not yet ready for contracts to be signed.”
The ex-European champion Kessler (35), who is currently working as a department head at the European Football Union Uefa, would be the first woman both for the women’s team of national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and for the men’s senior national team of national coach Hansi Flick responsible.
Nadine Kessler: world footballer of 2014
The world footballer of 2014 was one of the best midfielders in the world during her active career. With VfL Wolfsburg she won the Champions League twice, the championship title twice and celebrated three DFB Cup victories. In 2016 she ended her career due to persistent knee problems and from then on she devoted herself to her career as an official.
In addition to Kessler, Wolf should also have a responsible position in the DFB. According to media reports, the association plans to promote the current head coach of the U20 national team to technical director. In addition, the 42-year-old Wolf is said to be in charge of a competence team that also includes the former Bundesliga professionals Hanno Balitsch and Sandro Wagner.
Kessler and Wolf would inherit Bierhoff. The 2016 European champion had to leave the DFB after the preliminary round at the World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022, the 55-year-old was responsible for an enormously large area as DFB director. At the beginning of the year, the DFB signed Rudi Völler as the new sporting director for the senior national team and the U21s. The former team boss will give up this role again after the EM 2024.
The 2014 world champion Sami Khedira had recently been discussed as a candidate for a DFB post, but negotiations with the 36-year-old failed.