Rudi Völler: “After the summer of 2028, it’s really over”

Rudi Völler (65) will no longer extend his contract as sports director at DFB in 2028. “I’ve already extended twice. After the summer of 2028, it is really over,” he announced in the interview. He was not worried that he is retiring heavy traps. “I had a long career, I can let go. Football will always play a role at home.”

He enjoys the work: “I enjoy working with young people, share my experience. Actually, I wanted to step down, then this job was offered to me. I see him as a privilege.” Völler had only a few breaks during his career as a player, then a official and trainer. “I only regretted it once,” he looks back in the interview. “When I resigned as a national coach in 2004, I was empty and broken. I wanted to take a break, at least half a year. Then my phone rang, Francesco Totti was on it, the captain of AS Rome.” From “old connection” he promised as a trainer. “After almost two months, however, I found that I wasn’t the right one at that time. I had noticed that I was not ready for this task. I learned from it.”

He also spoke to the “star” about the hype around him. He was sometimes too much for him. “There is only a ‘Rudi Völler in a permanent loop where I came. At some point I couldn’t hear it anymore.”

He does not envy today’s footballers because they are even more under observation. “In my generation it was possible to drink a few beer without half the nation knowing the next morning. Today something like this ends up on social media.” For this, the young colleagues could look forward to “well -kept lawn places” today. Völler also thinks: “In the past, football was brutal, a lot was not whistled. Before someone got a red card, he had already kicked his opponent across the gang five times.”

Rudi Völler was active as a center forward from 1977 to 1996 in Germany, France and Italy. From 1982 to 1994 he played 90 times for the German national team. 1990 The big triumph: the world champion title. From 2000 to 2004 he was the team leader of the German national team, which became vice world champion under his leadership in 2002. Since February 2023, Völler has been a sports director at the DFB for the A national team.