Rudi Völler is supposed to make the German Football Association and the German national team fit for the home EM 2024. At the start of the demanding mission, the ex-national coach compares the selection with world champions Argentina, which is “not better” than us. It’s not the only clear statement.
The asphalt of the A3 has suffered even more since Wednesday than it already has. Rudi Völler’s heavy luxury car abuses the road during its “rescue service” mission between Leverkusen and Frankfurt/Main. “I will commute a lot and be present on the DFB campus,” said the new director of the national team, who started his job at the German Football Association (DFB): “It is my aim to complete the task in the next year and a half 100 percent to fulfill.”
Full commitment will be necessary if the decline of the national team after three disastrous tournaments in the almost 500 days until the EM 2024 is to be stopped. Despite the skepticism around him, Völler believes in the success of his mission. “We have the home advantage, which we want to turn into a real advantage,” said the hopeful of “Sport Bild”: “I am convinced that we have a team that can play for the title.”
In order for this ambitious goal to be achieved, Völler wants to involve the clubs in working through sporting deficits. “The DFB is not to blame for everything,” said the 62-year-old in the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger”: “The clubs are also responsible for the fact that we are complaining about a lack of center forwards or currently have too few full-backs, because they train the players.”
In order to put his finger in the wounds and get the clubs on board, Völler wants to keep in constant contact with the bosses. “I see it as my job to speak regularly with the managers and board members, such as Oliver Kahn and Aki Watzke and many others. That’s why I will often go to the stadiums,” said the 1990 world champion: “It’s not enough to talk about everyone moving closer together. We have to live it.”
Völler would like to make the better cooperation between the association and the clubs visible to all fans on the way to the European Championship. For this reason, the friendlies should be considered “competitive games” by the clubs up to the final round, despite other possible interests. “We have to be loyal to one another and support each other,” said Völler. “Everyone must be aware that the national team is important. Not just for the DFB, but also for the clubs.”
Völler also makes the players responsible. They should “play passionate football so that we can get all of Germany behind us again,” said the head of sport: “We all want to make sure that we get closer to the people again. But we also have to inspire with good football and win games .” Völler is convinced that despite the obvious weaknesses of national coach Hansi Flick’s team, this is also possible against top-class opponents: “Apart from Lionel Messi, who is outstanding and who everyone has treated to this world title, nobody should tell me that the Argentines are better than us.”
In order to reach the level of the Argentines, Völler needs support. However, it is still unclear who should take over the post of wanted director for the administrative tasks. Mainly Sami Khedira and Per Mertesacker are traded. The two world champions from 2014 are attested to their specialist knowledge – and they can get tips from Völler for possible commuting.
