Antonio Di Salvo will take over as head coach of Germany U-21s, signing a contract running until 2023. The news was announced following a virtual meeting of the DFB executive committee. Di Salvo, a long-time assistant with the team, will succeed Stefan Kuntz after the latter took on a role as head coach of the Turkey national team earlier this week. Hermann Gerland will take over as Di Salvo’s assistant, having previously been employed as a scout for the DFB since August 2021.

Antonio Di Salvo: “I would like to say thank you to the DFB’s executive committee, as well as Oliver Bierhoff, Hansi Flick, Joti Chatzialexiou and Meikel Schönweitz for the trust they have shown in me. I am looking forward to tackling the upcoming challenges, together with an exceptional coaching and backroom staff, which has been bolstered by the addition of Hermann Gerland. Our joint goal is to continue the success of our U21s and to meet my own expectations. That includes both sporting success and the continued development of players, both on and off the pitch in line with our ‘Herzzeigen’ campaign. These combined actions have brought a lot of public attention to the team in recent years.”

Oliver Bierhoff, director of national teams and the academy: “The connection between our U-21s and our senior squad has been strengthened under my direction over the last years. We want to continue down this path, in order to return to the pinnacle of world football. Hansi Flick, Joti Chatzialexiou, Meikel Schönweitz and myself quickly agreed that we already had the perfect successor to Stefan Kuntz within our ranks at the DFB in Toni Di Salvo. We want to maintain continuity in our coaching staff and continue to develop our own people and entrust them with further responsibility. We are certain that Toni will continue the good work that’s been done and will generate new energy with his own ideas. His strong relationship to Hansi Flick and Marcus Sorg will be of benefit when developing our young talents.”

Ronny Zimmermann, DFB vice-president and head of the U-21s delegation: “Toni Di Salvo has played a large role in the success of our U-21s in recent years, together with Stefan Kuntz and Daniel Niedzkowski. For our U-21s, it’s not just important how they perform on the pitch, but off it as well. Toni has always demonstrated a lot of enthusiasm, is very professional and is helped by his easy-going character, and has more than earned this. I’m confident that our new coaching staff, with the addition of Hermann Gerland, will continue to be successful together.”

Antonio Di Salvo has been assistant coach of Germany U-21s since 2016, winning the U-21 European championship in both 2017 and 2021. Prior to this, he was assistant to Marcus Sorg and Guido Streichsbier with the Germany U-19s, winning the U-19 EUROs in 2014. He also spent two seasons as assistant coach of the FC Bayern München U-17s. Di Salvo made 100 Bundesliga (17 goals) and 82 Bundesliga 2 appearances (14 goals) during his playing career, featuring for clubs such as Bayern München, Hansa Rostock and 1860 München.

(DFB)