Rudi Völler is to become the new sports director at the DFB.
Rudi Völler is to become sports director of the German national soccer team. According to information from “Bild”, the external expert council of the German Football Association (DFB) made this recommendation as expected after its meeting on Thursday. The 62-year-old Völler would thus become the successor to ex-managing director Oliver Bierhoff in one area, from whom the DFB had parted ways after being eliminated from the national team at the previous World Cup finals in Qatar.
Return to the DFB
The official appointment of Völler must be made by the supervisory board of DFB GmbH & Co. KG on the recommendation of the DFB executive committee. The 1990 world champion, who gave up his post as sports director at Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen after last season, would not be working for the DFB for the first time. In 2000, the native of Hesse took over the national team, which was also on the ground at the time, and led it two years later as team boss to the World Cup final. In 2004, Völler resigned from the post after the preliminary round of the European Championship.
A spirit of optimism should come
The task of the former goalscorer and crowd favorite should primarily be to create a spirit of optimism in the approximately 500 days until the 2024 European Championships at home. Völler should overcome the alienation between fans and national team, for which Bierhoff is held responsible. In addition, as the face of the DFB selection, he should draw attention to himself and thus take the ailing national coach Hansi Flick and the heavily criticized professionals out of the line of fire.
It is still unclear who will take on Bierhoff’s remaining administrative tasks, including academy management, trainer training and the promotion of young talent. An internal DFB committee headed by General Secretary Heike Ullrich is currently working on the exact shape of this field of work. (AFP/mam)