With the 2016 European Championships in France coming up, the 2018 World Cup in Russia not too far away and the vision of constructing the DFB Academy, the DFB have made personnel decisions looking ahead to the next few years. Joachim Löw will remain as Germany manager until 2018, whilst Oliver Bierhoff has taken over the project management of the DFB Academy until 2020.
World Cup winning manager Joachim Löw and the German Football Federation (DFB) will continue to work together after EURO 2016. Both parties agreed on an extension of the manager’s contract until 31st July 2018. Both assistant manager Thomas Schneider and goalkeeping coach Andreas Köpke have also been handed new contracts.
Oliver Bierhoff has also signed a new contract. It has been decided that the former Germany captain will take on a new role as project manager of the DFB Academy, in addition to his role as first team caretaker. Due to this new role, Bierhoff should be at the DFB until 2020.
DFB president Wolfgang Niersbach said on the extension of the two contracts: “I’m very excited that Joachim Löw will remain as Germany manager until the 2018 World Cup. He’s doing incredibly well with the national team and the whole of the DFB with his expertise, his determination and his confident manner. Our aim is to remain at the top.”
Summing up, the DFB president was happy with the progress: “All of us at the DFB will do everything we can to give the best footballers in the country the best possible conditions. That should also be implemented in the DFB Academy, which will be the future of German football. It’s a huge bonus that we have been able to appoint Oliver Bierhoff as the project manager for that. He’s exactly the right man for the job because of his economic background, his organisational talent and his knowledge of the DFB. Oliver has already put in place a structure within the national team and he’ll be the architect of the Academy, with sporting director Hansi Flick providing the footballing content.”
General secretary Helmut Sandrock led the negotiations. “The discussions were always fair, open and above all, conducted with mutual trust and respect; I can only thank the others for that and their attitudes. We can now concentrate on the tasks ahead after securing the long-term service of these key people. I am certain that the team’s exceptional history of success will continue as we have laid solid foundations with these long-term contracts. Oliver Bierhoff now has another important role as he takes over as project manager for our academy. This highlights our appreciation of all his hard work and commitment to the DFB,” commented Sandrock.
“I have already said several times that proving why we won the title in Brazil remains an incredible challenge and motivation. Our young team is not at the end of its development and the same is true for the majority of our players. I would like to thank the entire DFB Board and the league, led by president Wolfgang Niersbach and general secretary Helmut Sandrock for their trust, support and the offer of an early contract extension. Thomas Schneider, Andreas Köpke, Oliver Bierhoff and I have accepted this offer because we take great pleasure from working with the players and all the supporting team. We want to continue along this path together and have a lot of plans for the future,” said Germany manager Joachim Löw.
“I’m very pleased and proud that the DFB have given me the responsibility to manage the DFB Academy project. It’s an attractive and challenging task for which I have great respect. We need the resources and the knowhow of the entire DFB for this centennial project. Working on this project with Helmut Sandrock and Hansi Flick for the past few months has gone really well. I think that it’s incredibly rewarding to be able to implement new structures. It’s pioneering, just like projects involving the national team,” said first team caretaker Oliver Bierhoff.
“In my role as first team caretaker, I will continue to give my all. My job is becoming increasingly easier because we have good structures in place and an outstanding team, with many experts in their respective fields, supporting us. Everything fits together and this is what we’re intending to achieve with the DFB Academy,“ concluded Bierhoff.
(Report & Picture courtesy DFB Press Release)
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