After the failure of the German national team and its exit from the first round of the World Cup for the second time in a row, the director of the German national football team, Oliver Bierhoff, terminated his contract with the local Football Association after 18 years of working with the national team.
During its participation in the Qatar World Cup 2022, Germany lost the first match against Japan (1-2), then tied with Spain (1-1), before defeating Costa Rica (2-4), but that was not enough to pass it to the final price after Japan topped. For the fifth group against Spain, which outperformed the "Manshafts" by goal difference.
Bierhoff and the Football Association reached, at an early date, an agreement to terminate the contract, which runs until 2024. Federation President Bernd Neuendorf commented on this, saying that Bierhoff "provided great services to the federation."
Bierhoff, who scored two winning goals for Germany in the 1996 European Cup final, has worked with the national team since 2004, and had a great influence during his work with former coaches Jurgen Klinsmann and Joachim Loew, before current coach Hansi Flick took over in 2021.
Bierhoff was crowned with Germany at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil (Reuters)
Although the German national team faltered in recent major tournaments, Bierhoff was a partner in distinguished successes, most notably winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil after defeating the host country 7-1 in the semi-finals, then Argentina in the final.
But Germany bid farewell to the World Cup group stage for the second time in a row, and was eliminated from the European Cup final price last summer.
"That is why I will not leave without the necessary self-criticism," Bierhoff said in his resignation letter.
He added, "Some of the decisions we were convinced of were not right. No one regrets more than me. I take responsibility for that."
And press reports mentioned the movement of "closing the mouths" made by the players of the German national team - their opening match in the current World Cup against Japan - which caused wholesale problems within the national team's camp, and led to disputes between a number of players who refused to participate in the campaign.
The "Manshafts" players acted in protest against the decision of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) to ban the wearing of a badge supporting homosexuals, and this caused widespread criticism of German players by a number of stars, including the Belgian captain Eden Hazard, who stated - earlier - "The German national team should have focused on playing football, not passing political messages," he said.