By Ulrike John, dpa I Friday, March 08, 2024
BERLIN – Christian Wück will succeed Horst Hrubesch as coach of the German women’s national football team after the Paris Olympics in July and August, the German Football Federation (DFB) said on Friday.
The duration of Wick’s contract was not initially specified. Wück, 50, is the former coach of the men’s under-17 team and led them to both World Cup and European Championship titles in 2023.
“Christian Wück is a proven expert and he speaks the players’ language. He has proven in the past that he can develop personalities and mould teams into a cohesive unit,” DFB president Bernd Neuendorf said in a press release.
Wück is the first permanent men’s coach of the women’s team since Gero Bisanz, who was the first head coach from 1982 to 1996.
Tina Theune won the World Cup title as coach in 2003 and Silvia Neid in 2007 before also winning Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
Hrubesch, often a DFB crisis manager, was the men’s coach in that Olympics and won silver.
DFB women’s sporting director Nia Künzer praised Wück’s passion, expertise and very clear concepts. Maren Meinert, who has a long history in Germany youth teams, will be assistant coach.
There was congratulations for Wück among fans on social media but also some consternation that the DFB had chosen International Women’s Day to announce a man as permanent coach of the women’s team.
Many top women’s national teams are now coached by women, although Spain were led to the World Cup title last year by Jorge Vilda, who was though disliked by much of the squad.
Wück will look after the men’s under-15 national team before he takes charge of the women.
“I’m very much looking forward to this new task and consider it a great honour to take on this role,” Wück said.
“When the enquiry came, I didn’t hesitate for long: coaching this team, developing the existing individual quality of the players and making the team fit for success in the future is one of the most exciting and responsible tasks in German football.
“It makes me proud that I will accompany and shape this path after the Olympics. Until then, let’s all keep our fingers crossed for Horst and his coaching team to be successful in the European qualifiers and then the Olympic Games.”
Hrubesch, 72, secured the German women’s Olympic participation for Paris last week with a 2-0 win against the Netherlands in the Nations League final four.
He had previously said that he wanted to leave the temporary role to concentrate on his work as head of youth development at SV Hamburg.
Hrubesch has Euro 2025 qualifiers home and away against Austria, Iceland and Poland before the Olympics.
Hrubesch has filled in for several months after Martina Voss-Tecklenburg resigned after taking sick leave following Germany’s disappointing group-stage exit at last year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Voss-Tecklenburg had previously led Germany to the Euro 2022 final where they lost to hosts England.
Hrubesch was previously in temporary charge after Steffi Jones was sacked in 2018 and before Voss-Tecklenburg could take up the job later that year.
