Hansi Flick is SACKED as Germany head coach after ‘embarrassing’ 4-1 hammering by Japan and winning just four of his 17 games in charge - with Euro 2024 just nine months away
- Flick has been sacked as Germany head coach after talks with director Voller
- This comes after his side fell to a shocking4-1 defeat to Japan on Saturday
- Listen to the latest episode of Mail Sport’s podcastIt’s All Kicking Off!
Hansi Flick has been sacked as head coach of Germany following a meeting with shareholders, just nine months before Euro 2024.
The former Bayern Munich manager had a hugely unsuccessful stint in charge of the national team, with a 4-1 loss to Japan appearing to be the final straw.
In a statement released by the national side, it was confirmed that following a ‘shareholders meeting’, Flick was dismissed.
President of the German Football Association, Bernd Neuendorf said: ‘The committees agreed that the Men’s Senior National Teamneeds 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.’
Hansi Flick has been sacked as head coach of Germany after a poor run of form
Germany fell to a 4-1 loss to Japan on Saturday, which appears to have been the final straw
It remains to be seen what the future holds for Flick after an unsuccessful spell with Germany
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Germany face a difficult test on Tuesday when they host World Cup finalists France at Borussia Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park.
However, Flick will not be in the dugout for the match as a decision has been made over his future.
Flick was in charge of the team when they were knocked out the Qatar World Cup by Japan, but won’t be in the dugout any longer after his dismissal.
Germany - who won the 2014 World Cup - headed to the tournament with high hopes but their campaign was dominated by unrest between players, a perceived lack of support from fans back home and delicate political issues, with the team picking up just four points to come third in their group.
The national side have been in a real rut and drew once, lost once and had one win during the World Cup.
A newly released ‘All or Nothing’ documentary showed how their tournament fell apart while there was a lack of punctuality from players, much to the anger of Flick.
Their only win since was a 2-0 victory over Peru back in March, with Flick seeing his side lose to Belgium, Poland, Colombia and Japan since - while they drew with Ukraine in June.
The news of Flick’s dismissal comes as Germany director Rudi Voller said that losing 4-1 is a ‘disgrace’ and that he would speak to Flick on Sunday.
He said: ‘We’re all still in shock. Losing 4-1 is a disgrace. We all should take a good look at ourselves and then see what happens next. We would all do well to sleep on it tonight.
‘I just spoke to Hansi - he’s deeply affected. We’ll talk tomorrow (Sunday) about why that happened. That was an embarrassment.’
Bernd Neuendorf, Germany’s FA President, labelled the decision as one of the toughest
The director then released his own statement when Flick’s dismissal was announced.
‘Hansi Flick has worn himself out over the past few months; together with his coaching team, he has given everything to get back on track after leaving the clubWorld Cup in Qatar to make the turn for the better,’ he said.
‘Unfortunately, we have to realise today that it was not successful. The Japan game has clearly shown us that we can no longer make any progress in this situation. This is not an easy moment for me, because I joined the DFB in February to support Hansi Flick in all my ways, to support him so that he can be successful in sport. And I firmly believed that as national coach he could manage to get our national team back on track.
‘But now we have to act responsibly, we have to change something in order to be able to play the demanding and ambitious role of host at the European Championships in our own country that we all hope for. That’s what the fans in Germany rightly expect from us..
Voller and Sandro Wagner will lead the national team when they face France on Tuesday, it was confirmed.
Rudi Voller said that the defeat to Japan was the match that decided Flick’s fate
Voller continued: ‘I will therefore temporarily look after the national team for the one game against France with Hannes Wolfby my side.
‘The most urgent task will then be to hire a national coach who will quickly realign our team and prepare it for the big European Championship tournament next year, from which we all hope that there will be positive impulses for German football and also for our entire country.
‘A national coach who will then, in the long term, raise the national team back to the level that we know and expect from it.’
This news comes after Ilkay Gundogan revealed that his side were struggling with ‘mental fight with themselves’.
Gundogan confessed: ‘Very tough one to take. I think the only good situation was the goal, where we played the rhythm we wanted, but unfortunately, we have to admit Japan were defensively and offensively better than us.
Ilkay Gundogan revealed that his side were struggling with ‘mental fight with themselves’.
‘I think you can feel that a lot of our players are in a mental fight with themselves - there’s no confidence, there’s no understanding for the timing of decisions, and obviously these kind of games and results don’t help at all.
‘So we feel like everyone is fighting with themselves, and that makes it harder to create a spirit and atmosphere.
‘Football-wise, there’s a big lack of confidence and that makes it harder to get the results.’
‘We have to admit that we are just not on the same level with teams like the one today. We are just not good enough at the moment.
‘That’s the reality. Maybe we even think we are better than we are.’
It remains to be seen as to who will succeed Flick, with Julian Nagelsmann appearing to be an early frontrunner.
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