Dhe DFB Vice President Ralph-Uwe Schaffert has once again caused a stir with sharp criticism of the German national soccer players. “It would be time to radically change the playing staff,” said the head of the North German Football Association, the Lower Saxony Football Association and Vice President of the German Football Association in an interview with the “Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung” and the “Neue Presse” (Thursday ).
Specifically, the 67-year-old accuses many national players of a lack of attitude almost six months before the start of the European Championship in their own country. “Because I have the feeling that with a not very small number of players currently active, they think they can get by with perhaps 85 percent of the possible effort on the pitch,” said Schaffert. “It used to be an honor to play for Germany. Today I have the feeling that a lot of it is a burden. Then I should leave it if I have that attitude.”
“National players like monkeys”
Schaffert is a lawyer and worked as a judge at the Celle Higher Regional Court for almost 25 years. He had already caused a stir at the beginning of the year when he criticized the national players at the New Year's reception of his home district association in Hildesheim for their behavior during the World Cup in Qatar.
“If the German national players cover their mouths like monkeys and order the hairdresser to the hotel, you shouldn’t be surprised if they lose to Japan,” said the most powerful North German football official at the time. Before the 2-1 opening defeat at the World Cup against Japan, the national players demonstratively covered their mouths. They wanted to protest against the ban on the “One Love” captain’s armband by the world association FIFA.
Schaffert later apologized for the monkey comparison and was publicly warned by his DFB executive colleague Ronny Zimmermann to “treat him fairly”. In an initial reaction to Schaffert's new statements on Thursday, DFB spokesman Steffen Simon only said: “The interview was not coordinated. We will work on this internally.”
Schaffert specifically mentioned the national players Joshua Kimmich (Bayern Munich) and Ilkay Gündogan (FC Barcelona) in his criticism. Kimmich has “so far failed to provide proof” that he is a leading player. “Even in the club.”
“Inferior twin brother?”
With national team captain Gündogan, he “strangely plays outstandingly in the club and then plays in the national team in such a way that you could get the idea: Did he send his less talented twin brother?” said Schaffert. Basically, you have to think about the national team: “We may no longer just need the highly gifted, but perhaps also those who are prepared to roll up their sleeves.”
Regardless of his criticism of the national players, Schaffert also sees a problem for the DFB: As an association, when looking for a new coach, it is no longer able to keep up with the sums paid in club football.
“The next national coach will no longer get what Hansi Flick got – because the DFB can no longer afford it,” said Schaffert. “You hardly have a Bundesliga coach who earns less than a million. “It’s all gone so crazy that it’s almost impossible to put it back.”
However, the current national coach Julian Nagelsmann is doing well with the DFB vice-president. “Julian Nagelsmann has already convinced me personally – he introduced himself to our supervisory board and presidium,” said Schaffert. “I believe this was the best of all the variations considered.”
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