“Women’s football, men’s football – it’s one football!” The statement by national player Lena Oberdorf was once the football slogan of the year. Now Christian Wück wants to prove this as the new head coach.
Christian Wück had not yet been properly introduced as the new national coach when the lights went out in the press room of the German Football Association. The 51-year-old successor to Horst Hrubesch accepted it with a smile. Equipped with a contract until the end of 2026, he is taking on his first job as head coach of a women’s team. “I do believe that the differences are not that great. We play on green grass. We want to score goals,” said Wück.
USA, England and Spain are the benchmark
“Christian has shown that he can win titles,” said DFB sports director Nia Künzer at Wück’s presentation on the DFB campus in Frankfurt/Main – exactly two weeks after the women’s football team won bronze at the Olympics. The former Bundesliga striker, who played for 1. FC Nuremberg and Karlsruher SC, among others, led the men’s U17 team to European and World Cup triumphs last year. Now Wück wants to establish the German women, who suffered a debacle at the 2023 World Cup in Australia, among the world’s elite.
“The three teams we want to compare ourselves with are the ones that are still ahead of us,” explained the Lower Franconian from Gänheim, looking at the world rankings. The DFB team is currently ranked fourth behind Olympic champions USA, European champions England and world champions Spain.
Contract does not run until the next World Cup
Wück will also make his debut against England on October 25 in a friendly match at London’s Wembley Stadium. His first home game will follow three days later in Duisburg against Australia. The next major tournament for the DFB selection is the European Championship in Switzerland next summer, and the next World Cup will take place in Brazil in 2027 – after Wück’s contract ends.
“I am delighted that I have been given the trust,” said Wück, “it is a great honour for me to now be able to train a women’s national team.” He believes that there is “an incredible amount of potential” in the team. The foundation has been laid, the potential is definitely there to be successful in the future: “We want to work on details, develop further as players.”
Meinert and Bartusiak co-coaches
Wück is supported by two successful female footballers: Maren Meinert (51), 2003 world champion and successful youth coach, and Saskia Bartusiak (41), 2007 world champion and 2016 Olympic champion, are the new assistants. Michael Fuchs will remain goalkeeping coach, as he was under former national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg and under Hrubesch.
Wück left it open as to who would be between the posts for the DFB women’s team in the future. “For me there are two number ones,” he said. Hrubesch had benched long-time regular goalkeeper Merle Frohms from VfL Wolfsburg at the Summer Games and enabled Ann-Katrin Berger from the US club NJ/NY Gotham FC to have a spectacular tournament.
“To put it quite clearly: It was a decision by Horst Hrubesch,” said the 51-year-old Wück, while praising Berger’s contribution to the Olympic bronze. She saved a penalty in injury time in the match for third place and thus also saved Germany’s 1-0 victory against Spain.
New chance for goalkeeper Merle Frohms
“But Merle Frohms is just as number one for me. We will of course analyse the whole thing,” said Wück. At the Olympics, he watched all of the German games on site, except for the quarter-final against Canada, but stayed away from the national team.
The new head coach did not reveal anything about the future of captain Alexandra Popp (33) and defensive leader Marina Hegering (34). The VfL Wolfsburg players had left it open after the Olympics whether they would continue their international careers. “I know where the trend is heading,” said Wück and told the media representatives: “Keep speculating.”
Source: Stern
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
