Germany has fired coach Hansi Flick after an embarrassing 4-1 loss against Japan in the Euro 2024 qualifiers
Germany fired head coach Hansi Flick after being crushed 4-1 by Japan in a friendly on Saturday night.
The country is due to host the European Championship finals next summer, prompting the German Football Association (DFB) to take action.
Former striker Rudi Völler will be in charge of Germany’s friendly against France on Tuesday, with Hannes Wolf and Sandro Wagner.
Flick had survived a terrible World Cup in which Germany was eliminated in the group stage, but things have not improved as the squad has failed to win any of their last five games.
The former Bayern Munich head coach reported for duty on Sunday but was later relieved of his responsibilities.
“The bodies [of the DFB] shared the same view that the national team now needs a new impulse,” the DFB president, Bernd Neuendorf, said in a statement. “With next year’s Euro in sight we need enthusiastic mood and confidence.”
The 58-year-old quit his post at Bayern Munich in May 2021 to replace Joachim Löw with the national team, signing a three-year contract that was meant to last through the end of Euro 2024, but Flick has gone after 12 wins in 25 matches.
He had previously worked as Löw’s assistant for eight years before joining Bayern in the same capacity before being named to head coach.
Flick’s Germany had lost to Japan on Saturday night for the second time in a year. At the World Cup in Qatar, they were defeated 2-1 and were eliminated from the group stage on goal difference.
Flick started well, winning his first eight games in command, but he only managed four victories in his remaining 17 games, culminating in the latest humiliation by Japan.
The German FA stated that it is looking for a successor as quickly as feasible. Julian Nagelsmann, who took over for Flick at Bayern, is one possible possibility.
He was fired after less than two years in command at the Allianz Arena, but Völler, who was Germany’s head coach for four years at the turn of the century, will manage the coaching staff in the meantime.
“The most urgent thing is then to bring in a national team coach who at short notice can redirect and prepare our team for the big Euro tournament next year,” Völler said. “We expect from them, as does the whole country, positive impulses. A coach who can lift our level to where we know and expect it to be.”
