National coach Voss-Tecklenburg was kicked out as a player because of a love story from the national team. But that’s not why the DFB takes a close look at how their team presents itself at the European Championship.
Does her husband also sit in the stands at the games of the European Women’s Championship in England? “Woe, if not …” says Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and raises her index finger more laughing than threatening.
Contractor Hermann Tecklenburg is – of course – “her biggest fan”. The national coach can use his fingers crossed on site. On July 3, the 54-year-old travels to the European Championship with the German soccer team. For Voss-Tecklenburg it is the second major tournament as the person responsible for the DFB selection – and she has to deliver.
Despite the pressure, the 125-time national player and former Swiss selection coach also wants to enjoy the tournament. «From my point of view, this EM will be great. I hope that many will want to celebrate this festival, »says Voss-Tecklenburg.
“She always sees things realistically”
Her international premiere as a DFB coach ended bitterly three years ago: At the World Cup in France, the German women failed in the quarter-finals against Sweden and thus also missed the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Voss-Tecklenburg was accused of mistakes by the bank at the time.
“She understands a great deal about football – including men’s football,” says Reiner Calmund, who has been Bundesliga manager for many years. However, the 73-year-old is not entirely at ease: Calmund was best man when former international Voss married Tecklenburg in 2009. “She always sees things realistically. She’s not a dream dancer, »explains Calmund. The preliminary round at the European Championship with games against Denmark (July 8), Spain (July 12) and Finland (July 16), he is not the only one who knows that “will certainly not be a sure-fire success”.
Bierhoff: “We have total trust”
Voss-Tecklenburg and her team got through the first two years of Corona with a lot of success against opponents who were rarely really demanding. Weakened in terms of personnel, there was then a 1-1 draw against Spain and defeats against Canada and England at the European Championship preparation tournament in England in February – and most recently the unexpected 2-3 in Serbia in the World Cup qualifier.
“It’s a very young team that has left a few questions unanswered with one or the other result,” says DFB director Oliver Bierhoff, who is also responsible for the women. “But we have total trust and know that Germany also wants to play an important role in this tournament.” He also knows “that Martina and her team are extremely meticulous about it”.
Voss-Tecklenburg completed three training camps in preparation with the record European champions. She wants to play “offensive and dynamic football”. But of course she also knows: “We have to get through the group phase first.” The times when the DFB women won titles in series are long gone.
“Martina is refreshingly uninhibited”
Voss-Tecklenburg’s contract with the DFB runs until the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. An extremely checkered history connects her with the association: as a player she was European champion four times, and in 1995 she was also runner-up in the world championship. The fact that she returned to the national team after the birth of her daughter Dina was anything but a matter of course at the time. Since March, Voss-Tecklenburg has even been the proud grandmother of a girl.
The national coach sits on the supervisory board of Fortuna Düsseldorf and lives with her husband in Straelen on the Lower Rhine. Hermann Tecklenburg has already revealed in the “Bunte” that it was his wife, who was 20 years his junior, who once proposed to him: “Martina is refreshingly uninhibited. It’s not so old-fashioned as to wait for the man to propose.”
Her career as an international player came to an abrupt end before the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Because of a dispute with her then partner and teammate Inka Grings, Voss was kicked out of national coach Tina Theune-Meyer’s squad. Later she got a farewell game from the association. And much later she said in a “Spiegel” interview: “Today I know that I will never live with a woman again. I like men.”
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
