Flick to remain Germany coach despite World Cup fiasco

Germany coach Hansi Flick will keep his job and lead the team at Euro 2024 despite their crushing World Cup disappointment, the German Football Association (DFB) said on Wednesday.

“We have full confidence in Hansi Flick that he will master this challenge together with his team,” Bernd Neuendorf, president of the DFB, said in a statement after a crisis meeting with Flick.

The move means Flick, 57, will get the chance to seek redemption at the Euros on home soil in Germany.

“My coaching team and I are optimistic about the European Championship in our own country,” Flick said.

“We as a team can achieve much more than we showed in Qatar. We missed a great opportunity there,” he added.

“We will learn our lessons from this.”

Flick took over as Germany coach from former mentor Joachim Loew after the European Championship in 2021. 

He had previously served as deputy to Loew in Germany’s 2014 World Cup triumph as well as leading Bayern Munich to a treble in 2020. 

He made a flying start to the job with eight wins, leaving Germany confident heading into the tournament in Qatar. 

However, the four-time World Cup winners crashed out in the group stages after losing to Japan in their opening game.

Flick had said on the night that he wanted to remain in the job and see out his contract. 

However, the same was true of team director Oliver Bierhoff, who nevertheless went on to stand aside earlier this week — much to Flick’s disappointment.

– Golden era –

Speculation had since been rife that Flick may also resign.

He will now be faced with the task of leading Germany to victory at the European Championships without his close confidant.

With regard to Bierhoff’s successor, Neuendorf said the DFB had agreed to “first discuss the future structure of this area of responsibility within the DFB and then make a personnel decision”.

Flick helped mastermind a golden era as Loew’s assistant coach for eight years up until 2014, culminating with Germany’s World Cup win in Brazil.

After leaving the German Football Association (DFB) in 2017, he then became a coaching star in his own right thanks to a whirlwind spell in charge of Bayern Munich.

In just 18 months at the helm of Germany’s biggest club, Flick racked up seven trophies, including a historic Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League treble in the 2019/20 season.

His success at Bayern Munich and historic ties to the DFB made him strong favourite to take over the national team after Loew announced he would end a 15-year reign following the delayed Euro 2020.

In 19 international matches under Flick’s leadership so far, Germany have 11 wins, six draws and two defeats — including the painful loss to Japan in Qatar.

Born in 1965, Flick enjoyed a short but successful playing career, winning four Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich in the late 1980s.

After injuries forced the midfielder to retire at 28, he had spells coaching lower-league clubs, and notably kickstarted Hoffenheim’s eventual rise to the Bundesliga with promotion from the fourth to the third tier in 2001.

Yet it was as Loew’s assistant from 2006 to 2014 that Flick gained national fame, helping Germany to five successive semi-final appearances at major tournaments.