The German Football Association (DFB) has appointed Hannes Wolf as the new head coach of Germany U-18s. The 39-year-old coach’s last role was at Belgian first-division side KRC Genk, and he will take up his role at the DFB immediately, succeeding Manuel Baum. The U18s have been training in Duisburg since Sunday and Wolf will lead them into the upcoming international fixtures.

Hannes Wolf says: “I’m looking forward to the new challenge at the DFB and working with the U-18s to support their development over the coming years. I’ve gathered lots of valuable experience working with youth sides and in professional football in the last eleven years. It’s a challenging and interesting job to bring all that to the DFB and to the U18s to shape the future. We want to develop the players across all areas, working with the clubs in Germany where they are on a daily basis. We want them to become the best footballers they can be. I’m really looking forward to it and I’m going to put all of my energy into this challenge.”

Joti Chatzialexiou, sports manager of the Talent Promotion Program, says: “We’ve appointed a coach with great expertise in Hannes Wolf, and he’ll also fit into the coaching set-up really well as a person. He doesn’t just bring valuable experience from professional football, he’s also done brilliant work in youth football and helped lots of young players on the way to senior football. Our clear goal is to keep developing players in the youth set-up who later make the step up to the national squad.”

Meikel Schönweitz, head coach of the youth sides, says: “Hannes Wolf brings lots of qualities that fulfil the job requirements perfectly. He has years of experience working in youth football at the highest level. He hasn’t just proven that he builds successful sides, but that – much more importantly for us – he can develop individual players and get the maximum out of them. Alongside his work in youth football, he has valuable experience working with senior sides, including at VfB Stuttgart, who he led in the Bundesliga. He knows how things work and what is expected in clubs and with players. He’s also had experience abroad. All in all, his experiences and personality are the best fit to a job that is all about developing top German talents.”

Before his most recent job as head coach at KRC Genk, Hannes Wolf worked at Hamburger SV and VfB Stuttgart. Prior to that, he worked in the youth set-up at Borussia Dortmund for seven years. Alongside developing young players, he won three consecutive titles with his youth sides between 2014 and 2016. He was also given an award by the DFB in 2017 in recognition of his coaching.

(DFB)