“Football misses the lever”

analysis

Germany’s men’s national team lost to Poland (0:1) and Colombia (0:2) and drew only with Ukraine (3:3). The ladies surrounding national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg have already been disappointingly eliminated in the World Cup qualifying round in Australia and New Zealand, and the Germany Under-21 side are making a fool of themselves at the European Championships and ending up bottom of their group.

It has been an unforgettable summer for German football. And while the German Football Association hoped the women would spark euphoria, the men’s national team has repeatedly disappointed in recent years. The German national team, led by Joshua Kimmich, was eliminated twice in a row from the group stage of the World Cup, as well as the end of the European Championship in the summer of 2021 in the round of 16.

DFB’s youth strategy is not promising

German football has long ceased to cause euphoria in its own country. However, it is important for Andreas Rettig to distinguish between men’s football and women’s football. The 60-year-old football official was, among other things, managing director of the German Football League (DFL), but also ran business at SC Freiburg, 1. FC Cologne, FC St. Pauli and, most recently, in a third-division team. Victoria. Colin.

Andreas Rettig was the general manager of the DFL from 2013 to 2015.Photo: dpa/Christian Charisius

In an interview with Watson, he confirmed: “Throwing everything in one pot” is very easy for him. Rather, it is clear that “the German Football Association has not shown any promising strategy in recent years in the field of men’s youth.” And with the passage of time, this is now evident in the senior national team. The women, on the other hand, were disappointingly eliminated in the World Cup, but were European Championship finalists last year.

Rettig also blames the inertia of the German Football Association for the men’s poor performance. “A big point of criticism is that the DFB put things off for a long time and that’s why there were no changes. For example: in the spring of 2018, the impetus was given to the new concept of youth leagues,” Rettig points out.

The new concept of youth leagues, which will be introduced from the 2024/25 season, aims to take the pressure off the youth teams of professional clubs and thus the pressure on coaches as well. Hopeful effect: Young players are given individual support and more support because teams can no longer be relegated. Good introduction, according to Rettig. It took a long time for the concept to be implemented.

At the end of the 1990s, Rettig was involved in developing the concept of the Youth Academy, or NLZ for short. He was a member of the DFB Academy Committee for many years, also worked for twelve years in youth football at Bayer Leverkusen and co-founded the FC Freiburg Football School. With the second division, compulsory in the Bundesliga since 2001 and later also in the second division, Rettig revolutionized German football after losing in the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship.

But Rettig also criticizes the error that has crept into the academies. The primary goal was to use the NLZs to professionalize frame conditions for young footballers. “It worked and led to successes like the 2014 World Cup,” Rettig explains.

But the problem is different: “At some point, German football failed to change course. The slogan was: We have to take everything away from a 16-year-old so he can focus only on football. As a result, many players today are not flexible and regularly look for the easier way out instead of working on themselves and persevering.”

With special reference to youth football, Rettig added: “It has been statistically proven that players who stay at the same club longer have the best chance of reaching ‘the top’. Tourism in the NLZ must stop.”

The German Football Association must look for outside inspiration

In addition to promoting flexibility, according to Rettig, German football must also build on the concepts of other countries.

Even before the youth’s good work culminated in the 2014 World Cup for the generation of players around Bastian Schweinsteiger, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker or Lukas Podolski, other European associations came to Germany looking for inspiration. As a result, France and England in particular succeeded in developing the concept of youth development.

The 2014 World Series title is also attributed in part to the introduction of the NLZ.Photo: Imago Images/Sven Simon

“Our task now is to go to other countries and see what they are doing differently and better,” Rettig concluded.

There is no longer any communication between fans and players

The second point of criticism, which is criticized in addition to Rettig’s sporting development, is the lack of bonding between professional footballers and spectators. Here, the former Bundesliga coach differentiates between men’s and women’s football and explicitly emphasizes the positive presentation of the DFB’s women. He justifies the women’s extremely high viewership ratings not only for their sporting success, but also for “the way they present themselves”. They appear to be more approachable and down-to-earth than their male colleagues.

“When I think of the irrational 300km flights of the senior national team, the insane salaries and the job-hopping, it certainly doesn’t reinforce the emotional bond and identity,” Rettig questioned. Professionals will then lack the down-to-earth attitude that the DFB-Women’s team has, which is why players are so easy to deal with.

In order to promote humility and for players to get a feel for what everyday life is like for “ordinary” people, Rettig wrote a public interest clause into the contracts of all staff at his last stop, with the Third Division club. Victoria Colin. Every employee was required to commit to volunteering at least one hour per month for the greater good. “This is meant to maintain a certain amount of humility,” Rettig explains.

The German Football Association would like to revive the recent euphoria among the men’s women’s national team. Preferably by the domestic European Championships in the summer of 2024 at the latest. In addition to sporting success, Rettig also warns that the euphoria is not immediately present when the first match of a tournament begins.

Instead, he suggests a “credible magic attack” on Watson and suggests: “I can imagine a traveling show from Kiel to Freiburg, where current and former national players appear, speak to fans and do advertising.”

Alternatively, visits of current national players to their home clubs or regions could be envisaged to generate enthusiasm. Because one thing is certain for Rettig, who believes the appointment of Rudi Völler as DFB’s sporting director is just right: “Just a Rudi Völler won’t be enough to get excited.”