The Germany national team is in crisis - could even Klopp save them?
Tom Weber
- Updated: 12 Sept 2023 11:59 BST
- 4 min read
Germany is in full-on crisis mode ahead of a European Championship on home soil.
Former Bayern boss Hansi Flick has been sacked as the head coach of the senior men's national team off the back of an exceptionally underwhelming two years in charge. Rudi Völler will take the reins in the interim in what will be his first coaching job since 2005 as Germany's search for a new manager continues.
Among the favourites are Julian Nagelsmann, who is still technically under contract at Bayern despite being sacked in the spring, and Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp but could either of them save this team?
It is doubtful because there are more systemic issues plaguing German football than just bad coaching or bad players, though the lack of high-quality coaching (besides the aforementioned two) is also a huge issue, as is the fact that Germany can't seem to produce any complete strikers of the Miroslav Klose type anymore.
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The biggest area of concern is youth development, which the DFB is trying to address with new reforms that have received a mixed reception. Only time will tell whether they will bear fruit.
There is also something to be said about the domestic league's competitiveness - or lack thereof. However, the DFB does not control the Bundesliga or the second tier, those are under DFL jurisdiction and hence the German FA's ability to influence the top flight is limited.
Dominance and money
Bayern's 11-year dominance makes the Bundesliga unattractive, but perhaps more important is the fact that no club besides the Munich outfit can financially compete with Europe's biggest hitters, not even Dortmund.
The Premier League has run away in terms of financial strength and will quickly drain the Bundesliga of what little high-quality domestic talent it produces, meaning that international teammates rarely get to play together and establish an understanding at club level. As Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag recently said, the Bundesliga is a great development league for the Premier League.
The DFL has tried to attract funding by making the Bundesliga more receptive to outside investment, but this has met with fierce and justified resistance from fans (and some clubs) who don't want to see their teams become the playthings of billionaires or sovereign wealth funds, so this idea had to be shelved.
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German football is in crisis ahead of the 2024 Euros in Germany. Youth development has failed, the domestic league can't compete with the financial strength of the Premier League and the footballing bureaucracy is staffed with the same old faces.
Even the current crop of players, some of whom are supremely talented - like Nico Schlotterbeck - are made to look like amateurs on the international stage because fresh tactical impulses in coaching and in terms of playing style are lacking.
In many ways, the 4-1 loss to Japan and the recent World Cup performances - not just from the men, but the women as well - are emblematic of the rot pervading German football and there is seemingly no end or solution in sight.
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