Actually, it is not only after the debacle at the World Cup in Qatar that German football urgently needs to look into the future.

The President of the German Football Association (DFB), Bernd Neuendorf, set up a working group for this purpose.

The men's group with him, Oliver Kahn, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Oliver Mintzlaff, Matthias Sammer, Hans-Joachim Watzke and Rudi Völler should first and foremost find a successor to Oliver Bierhoff, who had left the association after 18 years and the World Cup.

She succeeded - in her own ranks and in an amazing way.

Tobias Rabe

Responsible editor for Sport Online.

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There was no proper process for selecting personnel, as Watzke said frankly.

"We sat together," said the DFB vice president.

"And yes, then you see the group there and then I spontaneously said: 'Rudi, that would actually be something for you.'

We're more like gut people.

And then the stone was in the water.” Rudi Völler, actually a football retiree, took a little time and then said, to the delight of the group: “If you all support it, then I’m ready.”

"I don't always want to talk about the past"

And so Völler, the new director from the gut, sat on Friday afternoon, surrounded by Watzke and Neuendorf, on the podium on the DFB campus, which Bierhoff had played a major role in shaping, and talked vaguely about his plans with the national team for the 18 months to at the end of the European Championship.

The 62-year-old drew on his immense experience as a national player, team boss and official at Bayer Leverkusen until he stopped himself after all the references to the past: "I don't always want to talk about the past."

A topic from the recent past is the debate about the "One Love" captain's armband.

That was also an issue on Friday when we were dealing with the all-round failure of the World Cup.

Looking back, President Neuendorf spoke about the hustle and bustle that the ban on world governing body FIFA had triggered shortly before the first German game against Japan.

Suddenly the game and the preparation for it were no longer the focus, but the question of how to react.

Captain Manuel Neuer wore a FIFA armband and the team covered their mouths for the photo.

Quite a few saw the distraction from sport as a reason for the Germans' once again damned World Cup campaign.

Home Secretary Nancy Faeser sat in the stands next to FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the Japan game in Doha and had the "One Love" armband on his upper left arm.

DFB President Neuendorf distanced himself from Faeser's action at the press conference on Friday.

“The Minister of the Interior has made a decision.

That was their decision, which was in no way agreed with us in any way." , in which “we didn’t play a good role” and said: “Our interior minister should have left one or the other.”

The day after, Faeser responded sharply to the statements made by the DFB President and DFB Director, who will not officially take up his post until February 1st.

"I don't think Rudi Völler should do the work for FIFA.

That was an action as a protest against FIFA and not against Qatar," said the SPD politician on Saturday at the New Year's reception of the German Olympic Sports Confederation in Frankfurt.

“It was important for me to show my attitude there.

Of course, I had the “One Love” bandage from the German Football Association.

By who else?”

Faeser had previously explained her reasons for her behavior at the World Cup in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

"I wanted to set an example for diversity, for women's rights, for gay rights.

And against FIFA for threatening players with penalties for wearing that one love armband," she said.

"It wasn't something that I had thought about for a long time." She wore the bandage in the stands, "because for me as Minister of Sport it is crucial that we don't deal with big political issues on the backs of the players."

In Qatar, the German minister's action was not well received.

The locals referred them to themselves.

Some scoffed that they wanted to see whether the Germans were still wearing such a bandage when they signed the next gas deal.

So was Faeser's action a show?

"This whole World Cup should be a brilliant show by Qatar and FIFA," she replied in the FAS interview.

"They didn't succeed, many fans turned away, and the human rights situation in the country became a big issue." After the show, you should probably ask there.

Regardless of the clear criticism of Völler for his statements, on Saturday Faeser also welcomed the fact that the DFB had hired its former national striker and world champion from 1990.

“I am pleased that Rudi Völler has taken on the task.

I believe that he will help ensure that there will be a new start at the DFB," said the minister.