Fredi Bobic is said to be the hottest candidate to succeed Oliver Bierhoff at the DFB. But the managing director of Hertha BSC has no desire to change jobs at the moment. He tells the DFB to do his homework first before it comes to personal details.
Fredi Bobic from the Bundesliga club Hertha BSC does not currently see himself as a candidate to succeed Oliver Bierhoff as DFB managing director. “I have a job, I feel very comfortable at Hertha,” said the 51-year-old on Wednesday at a media round in Berlin. Bobic had been traded as one of several potential candidates after Bierhoff left the German Football Association as a result of the national team’s early World Cup failure in Qatar.
“I wasn’t keen on my name being mentioned,” said Bobic. “It would have, would have, would have had a lot,” he added to the ongoing personnel speculation. At Hertha he is very satisfied because “things are turning”.
After successfully working at Eintracht Frankfurt, Bobic switched to Hertha as Managing Director Sport in 2021. He has not yet been able to bring about a sporting upswing in the Berliners. He has spent the past three days negotiating with a possible new investor, 777 Partners, who could take over Lars Windhorst’s shares in Hertha. Therefore, he “had no head for topics that affect the DFB,” said Bobic.
The DFB must first be clear about the goals it is striving for in the future. Only then can you talk about people. In the current situation, the association “must not let itself drift,” said Bobic. Will the new one end up being called Fredi Bobic? “Hypothetically, you can always imagine a lot and never rule anything out in football,” he said, “even if it means: He leaves a door open”.
The former national player expressed respect for Bierhoff’s work. “I’m far from the fact that Oliver is the scapegoat. He left his mark over long stretches,” said Bobic about his former teammate, with whom he celebrated the 1996 European Championship victory. “There were also golden times, he left his mark and made a lot of things happen. In the end, however, success counts, football is tough.”
Bobic had the impression that “sport didn’t always have the most important voice” at the DFB. With the home EM 2024 “we have a big task where we can change the mood. I am firmly convinced that this is possible”.