Germany’s manager sacked before home European Championships after poor form
Germany has lost to Belgium, Poland, Colombia, and Japan since their World Cup group stage exit; Hansi Flick was appointed in 2021 after winning the Champions League with Bayern Munich; Germany was beaten 4-1 by Japan in a friendly on Saturday
Germany have sacked manager Hansi Flick just nine months before the start of their home European Championships next summer.
The former Bayern Munich boss saw his side suffer an embarrassing 4-1 friendly defeat at home to Japan on Saturday.
Germany has lost four times in their last five games which comes on the back of a group-stage exit at last year’s World Cup.
German Football Association president Bernd Neuendorf said: “The men’s senior national team needs new impetus after the recent disappointing results. We need a spirit of optimism and confidence in our own country.
“For me personally, it is one of the most difficult decisions of my time in office so far because I appreciate Hansi Flick and his assistant coaches as football experts and people. But sporting success is the top priority for the DFB. So the decision was inevitable.”
Flick’s assistant coaches Marcus Sorg and Danny Rohl have also been relieved of their duties with immediate effect.
Rudi Voller, who managed Germany from 2000 to 2004, Hannes Wolf, and Sandro Wagner will take charge of Tuesday’s friendly against France in Dortmund.
“The aim is to arrange Hansi Flick’s successor as quickly as possible,” the DFB added.
Flick won just 12 of his 25 matches in charge since replacing Joachim Low in August 2021, whom he worked under as an assistant from 2006 to 2014.
The 58-year-old oversaw eight consecutive wins at the start of his reign but at the Qatar World Cup, Germany failed to get out of Group E after losing to Japan, drawing with Spain and beating Costa Rica. Oman and Peru are the only other nations they’ve beaten in the past 12 months.
The final tournament draw will take place in December 2023 at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
The teams will be seeded in accordance with the overall European Qualifiers rankings. Germany will be automatically seeded into pot 1 as hosts, and placed in position A1.
The three play-off winners will not be known at the time of the draw but will be placed into pot 4 for the draw.
The opening game of Euro 2024 is June 14 with the final taking place on July 14 at the Olympiastadion, Berlin.