DFB team against France
Völler: Names of possible national coaches have already been discussed
Rudi Völler (M), Sandro Wagner (l) and Hannes Wolf will look after the DFB team against France. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
Who will be the new national coach? Interim team boss Rudi Völler also sets the tone at the DFB. The 63-year-old does not comment on names.
Interim team boss Rudi Völler holds back on naming names in the national coach discussion, but has clear ideas about the schedule.
“Of course, that’s clear, we already had a few names in the three-way discussion,” said Völler before the friendly (9 p.m./ARD) against vice world champions France about discussions with DFB President Bernd Neuendorf and DFL Supervisory Board Chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke. “Of course there are names that are absolutely possible.”
The 63-year-old added that he would not comment on this, “of course I learned that in this life, in this business.” The DFB is “of course thinking about it, and I am firmly convinced that it is important to present the right person in three and a half weeks. We are working on it.” He will “certainly have a few more discussions and meetings.” The DFB team will play against hosts USA in Hartford on October 14th and against Mexico three days later in Philadelphia.
Until then, finding a successor to Hansi Flick, from whom the DFB parted ways on Sunday, is “the main task,” said the sports director, who emphasized that he had only taken over for the France game. At the association, the search is particularly the responsibility of the task force around Völler, Neuendorf and Watzke, which also includes Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Matthias Sammer.
It is extremely important to “create a certain euphoria,” said Völler. When asked specifically about the former Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann, the ex-sports director of Bayer Leverkusen pointed out that he would not answer any “trick questions” and then said: “Of course there are names of coaches that come into question, that goes without saying. Of course Julian is Nagelsmann, like many others, is an absolute top trainer.”
Trio around Völler before France’s showdown
In the game against France, the interim team around Völler, Sandro Wagner and Hannes Wolf will look after the DFB team. “Hannes Wolf in the package with Sandro Wagner, who is a bit of his right-hand man at the U20, was a bit my idea,” said Völler, who thinks extremely highly of Wolf. The 42-year-old was introduced as sports director for “young talent, training and development” at the end of August, and Völler had already given high praise. “As many people know, he was also a coach at Bayer Leverkusen for a short time,” said Völler about their time together when he was sports director at Bayer. “I could already feel the fire burning in him.”
Together with ex-national player Wagner (35), who had the first coaching experience of his young career as a coach at SpVgg Unterhaching and then moved to Wolf’s U20, Wolf could provide “a few new impulses” in a short time “To get a few more percent out of the meetings, in the units”. A “few new faces” were important to him, “that’s why Hannes is a very important figure,” said Völler.
The trio will take over for the France game at short notice because the DFB parted ways with Hansi Flick as national coach on Sunday. A successor is being sought. Völler himself said on Monday that returning to the team boss position 19 years after his resignation was a unique thing for him. He did not speak for Wolf and Wagner.