Support for under-fire Germany coach Hansi Flick despite poor results

By: The Associated Press Posted: 10:08 AM CDT Sunday, Jun. 18, 2023

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Firing Germany coach Hansi Flick is out of the question despite the team's lack of recent wins, the German soccer federation's sporting director, Rudi Völler, said Sunday.

Read this article for free:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

Read unlimited articles for free today:

or

Already have an account? Log in here »

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/06/2023 (1173 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Firing Germany coach Hansi Flick is out of the question despite the team’s lack of recent wins, the German soccer federation’s sporting director, Rudi Völler, said Sunday.

Germany’s 1-0 loss to Poland in a friendly on Friday was the third game in a row without a win as Flick experiments with his squad with a year to go until Germany hosts the European Championship.

Some fans and commentators have voiced frustration at the apparent lack of progress since exiting the World Cup in the group stage last year.

National soccer coach Hansi Flick, front, attends a team's training session of the German national soccer team in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Germany will face Poland for an international friendly soccer match at the national stadium in Warsaw on Friday, June 16, 2023. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)

“Hansi Flick will obviously remain the coach,” Völler said ahead of the last of three June friendlies on Tuesday against Colombia. “We all agree that Hansi is exactly the right coach to play a good European Championship.”

Still, Völler admitted Germany needs to do more to win back fans’ confidence.

“Obviously we want to win, we want to try some things out, but at the same time inspire people. This isn’t a friendly game and it isn’t a qualifying game, it’s rather a game where we want to show the fans that they can count on us,” he said. “We are at the end of a long season, we are tired and the legs are heavy. The couple of percent that were missing in some situations or other in Poland, we have to deliver those once again now.”

Flick won the Champions League with Bayern Munich before taking the Germany job in 2021 to replace Joachim Löw after a disappointing European Championship campaign. He started with a run of eight wins as Germany breezed through World Cup qualifying, but Flick’s team has won just four of 15 since then against Italy, Oman, Costa Rica and Peru.