National team
DFB extends contract with sports director Völler until 2026
The German Football Association and Rudi Völler have extended their cooperation ahead of schedule. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
The emergency solution becomes a permanent solution. Rudi Völler will remain director of the national football team beyond the home European Championships in the summer. Goal: World Cup 2026. Is Nagelsmann coming soon?
The German Football Association made its first important personnel decision for the national team a good two months before the home European Championship. Rudi Völler will remain DFB sports director beyond the home tournament in the summer. The association extended the contract with the former team boss and 1990 world champion shortly before his 64th birthday until the end of the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, as he announced.
“In the past 14 months of my work, I have noticed that the responsible task at the DFB has grown more and more close to my heart every day,” said Völler, according to the statement. “What initially perhaps started out of a feeling of obligation towards Germany, the association and the national team has long since developed into a personal concern.”
Does Nagelsmann also follow?
If possible, the DFB would like to agree on a contract extension with national coach Julian Nagelsmann before the start of the European Championship against Scotland in Munich on June 14th. The contract with the 36-year-old ends after the home tournament. Völler was largely responsible for signing Nagelsmann last September as Hansi Flick’s successor.
“Rudi Völler, with all his experience, is an important contact and advisor for me and also for the coaches and players,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. “He has a positive influence on the national team. (…) After recent difficult years, there is a lot of enthusiasm for the national team again. In addition to the excellent work of Julian Nagelsmann and his team, this is also a credit to Rudi Völler.”
The emergency solution becomes a permanent solution
Völler has been DFB sports director since February 1, 2023. After the preliminary round exit at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the DFB separated from national team director Oliver Bierhoff and initially founded a task force that included Völler, among others. He was then appointed director of the men’s national team as a sort of emergency solution. Völler was first sports director and then sports director at Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen for many years. He left the management in mid-2022
As a successful national player and team manager of the national team from 2000 to 2004, Völler was also active for the DFB. After parting ways with Flick, he once again looked after the DFB team last September as interim team manager in the 2-1 international match against France.
“As director of the senior national team, I would like to use my experience to do my part to ensure that Germany’s most important football team is successful again, but also beyond the home European Championships this summer,” said Völler.