analysis
National team
Under Rudi’s protective hand: Why Julian Nagelsmann is extending his contract with the DFB – and canceling his contract with FC Bayern
Sports director Rudi Völler was probably not entirely uninvolved in Julian Nagelsmann’s extension at the DFB: the two maintain a close, trusting relationship
© Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa
Julian Nagelsmann will remain national coach until 2026. This is primarily thanks to sports director Völler, who gives the young coach the warmth that he once missed in Munich.
It was only four weeks ago that I sat there Julian Nagelsmann in a DFB meeting room on Schwarzwaldstrasse in Frankfurt and said sentences that you rarely hear in the football industry. Namely, that he doesn’t know what’s next for him professionally, that he doesn’t have an offer for the period after the European Championships, “no piece of paper,” as he called it.
Those were disturbing words, because football works according to different laws. Well-placed rumors, hints and self-deprecation – these are the means by which actors generally try to increase their market value. But the fact that a current German national coach like Nagelsmann said: I have nothing, nobody wants me at the moment – that was a small sensation in its openness.
The defeats in November – already forgotten
When Nagelsmann spoke these words, he had little idea that offers and pieces of paper would rain down on him a few days later. That he, who had only just publicly submitted a job application, would be able to choose between many attractive employers.
Two games in March completely changed Julian Nagelsmann’s world. It was the Germans’ 2-0 win against World Cup runners-up France and the 2-1 win against the Netherlands, one of the strongest teams in Europe. Since these games, Nagelsmann has suddenly changed the way the industry perceives him. The gloomy November in which the DFB team lost to Turkey and Austria under his leadership is forgotten. Football is quick to forgive.
This Friday, the DFB announced that it would extend Nagelsmann’s contract beyond the European Championships until the summer of 2026. Nagelsmann now has the piece of paper in his hands that he wanted so much in March. But it’s not just the coach who should be congratulated on the paper, but above all the DFB. Winning over Nagelsmann these days, as he has become one of the most sought-after foot coaches on the continent alongside Xabi Alonso – that can be described as a masterful achievement.
And yet Nagelsmann’s personality also tells us a lot about the fickleness of German football. At the beginning of the year it was said that the DFB would like to continue working with Nagelsmann, but would still like to wait for the European Championships. There had been bad experiences with giving head coaches new working papers before major tournaments. Joachim Löw (2018 World Cup) and women’s national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg (2023 World Cup) each failed early after the DFB extended their contract. The DFB eventually parted ways with Voss-Tecklenburg and had to pay her dearly. The financially strapped association absolutely wanted to avoid such a scenario in the Nagelsmann case.
Longing for security
But the DFB was unable to stick to the plan of only speaking to Nagelsmann after the European Championships. In recent weeks, Nagelsmann has been considered a candidate wherever there is a coaching position to be filled in top European football. Even at FC Bayern, who only released him in March 2023.
The DFB has now thrown its principles overboard and given Nagelsmann a medium-term contract. A wise decision, especially with a view to the European Championships in the summer, because the entire tournament would have been burdened with the question of the coach’s future. In addition, any of Nagelsmann’s personnel decisions would have been read as a political issue: Is he leaving Leon Goretzka at home because he no longer needs him as the future Bayern coach? Did he make Ilkay Gündogan captain of the national team because he, Nagelsmann, already has his say at FC Barcelona and wants to strengthen Gündogan for the subsequent time together in Catalonia?
The DFB has now cleared up all of these discussions. Nagelsmann is not going into the European Championship as a national coach on call, but as a coach with perspective.
The contract extension with Nagelsmann is the first major success for DFB sports director Rudi Völler and managing director Andreas Rettig, who took over after the failed 2022 World Cup. Above all, Völler’s part in the coup should not be underestimated. Nagelsmann and he quickly developed a close, trusting relationship with each other at the DFB. Völler looks at Nagelsmann with fatherly indulgence; He put his arm around him when the games against Turkey (2:3) and Austria (0:2) went wrong because Nagelsmann had dared to experiment wildly.
Völler gives Nagelsmann the warmth that he once missed at FC Bayern. This is one of the reasons why Nagelsmann decided to join the DFB and not return to Munich. Nagelsmann, who stumbled in November, needs security. And so does the DFB, which is about to play the European Championship at home, the most important tournament in years.