DFB Vice President Ralph-Uwe Schaffert caused a stir with renewed sharp criticism of the German national soccer players and caused a great deal of incomprehension among sports director Rudi Völler. “It would be time to radically change the playing staff,” said the head of the North German Football Association, the Lower Saxony Football Association and Vice President of the German Football Association in an interview with the “Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung” and the “Neue Presse”.
Specifically, the 67-year-old accuses many national players of a lack of attitude almost six months before the start of the European Championship in their own country. “Because I have the feeling that with a not very small number of players currently active, they think they can get by with perhaps 85 percent of the possible effort on the pitch,” said Schaffert. “It used to be an honor to play for Germany. Nowadays I have the feeling for a lot of it that it’s a burden. Then I should leave it if I have that attitude.”
Völler didn’t want to leave it like that. The sports director of the DFB and former world champion reacted in the “Bild” to the sentences of the high-ranking DFB official, who is not for the first time noticed with clear criticism of the national team. “Everyone in the DFB has their job. It’s nice that everyone is interested in the national team, and criticism is completely fine after the last few games. But the way of criticizing our important players in such an exaggerated way is not acceptable,” said Völler.
Völler also said that he couldn’t imagine that Schaffert really meant it that way and offered: “I’d be happy to explain it to him again over a cup of coffee.” DFB spokesman Steffen Simon had previously said in an initial reaction to Schaffert’s statements: “The interview was not coordinated. We will work through it internally.”
The DFB vice-president had already caused a stir at the beginning of this year when he criticized the national players at the New Year’s reception of his home district association in Hildesheim for their behavior during the World Cup in Qatar. “If the German national players cover their mouths like monkeys and order the hairdresser to the hotel, you shouldn’t be surprised if they lose to Japan,” said the most powerful North German football official at the time.
Before the 2-1 opening defeat at the World Cup against Japan, the national players demonstratively covered their mouths. They wanted to protest against the ban on the “One Love” captain’s armband by FIFA. Schaffert later apologized for the monkey comparison and was publicly warned by his DFB executive colleague Ronny Zimmermann to “treat him fairly”.
And now the new criticism from the lawyer, who worked as a judge at the Celle Higher Regional Court for almost 25 years. Schaffert specifically mentioned the national players Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) and Ilkay Gündogan (FC Barcelona) in the interview. Kimmich has “so far failed to provide proof” that he is a leading player. “Even in the club.”
With national team captain Gündogan, he “strangely plays outstandingly in the club and then plays in the national team in such a way that you could get the idea: Did he send his less talented twin brother?” said Schaffert. Basically, you have to think about the national team: “We may no longer just need the highly gifted, but perhaps also those who are prepared to roll up their sleeves.”
Regardless of his criticism of the national players, Schaffert also sees a problem for the DFB: As an association, when looking for a new coach, it is no longer able to keep up with the sums paid in club football. “The next national coach will no longer get what Hansi Flick got – because the DFB can no longer afford it,” said Schaffert. “You hardly have a Bundesliga coach anymore who earns less than a million. Everything has gone through the roof so much that it can hardly be reduced.”
However, the current national coach Julian Nagelsmann is doing well with the DFB vice-president. “Julian Nagelsmann has already convinced me personally – he introduced himself to our supervisory board and presidium,” said Schaffert. “I believe that this was the best of all the variations considered.”tis
