DFB sports director Rudi Völler sees vice world champion France with superstar Kylian Mbappé as a benchmark, also with a view to the EM 2024.
“The only association that can always sleep through the night without a headache is the French. If five fail, five others play,” said the 62-year-old on the “Kicker meets DAZN” podcast. At the tournament in front of his own fans, Völler wants to compensate for this with the audience.
“If you already have a European Championship at home, then you have to take this twelfth man on board too. This closeness just has to be there. The enthusiasm, the euphoria doesn’t come by itself, you have to do something for that,” said Völler.
The official doesn’t see all the other nations – including world champions Argentina – that far ahead in terms of personnel. “The only thing that the Argentines and Moroccans had ahead of us or the Belgians or the Spaniards: that five percent willingness to make sacrifices, the passion, the greed, not to lose the duel. That was definitely missing, and that’s why we were eliminated.”
With the 2018 World Cup (out of the preliminary round), the 2021 European Championship (out of the round of 16) and the 2022 World Cup (out of the preliminary round), the DFB team has three bad tournaments in a row behind them. Völler cited the fact that a tournament will be played in his own country in the summer of 2024 as one of the main reasons for his new commitment. The sports director praised his relationship with national coach Hansi Flick. “We have a wonderful exchange.”
