2023-12-05 09:45:25
While the German U17 was fighting for historic success at the World Cup in Indonesia, the DFB announced its separation from Tobias Haupt on Saturday afternoon at 1:33 p.m. Andreas Rettig, DFB Managing Director Sport, thanked him in the press release for his “exemplary effort and commitment”. He always looked outside the box and was never afraid to “consistently take new paths”. Nevertheless, the collaboration ended.
The former team manager Oliver Bierhoff installed Haupt as head of the academy at the German Football Association in October 2018. Shortly after its installation, its working method was presented in a detailed press release on October 4, 2018. The core message was: “Develop football further? Use scientific knowledge? Prepare knowledge and present it to the football family?”
This vision sounded exciting to the then 34-year-old, who was officially presented by the DFB as one of the “leading digitalization experts in football”. Haupt enthusiastically stated: “This represents a novelty in German football in this dimension.” He followed how the academy developed. He read about pilot projects, studies, conferences and workshops.”
That’s not the only reason why opinions about the 39-year-old always differed internally. There are extremely different perspectives among DFB insiders when it comes to assessing his work and abilities.
Haupt appeared on the big football stage as Bierhoff’s confidant, literally out of nowhere. Until this point, a little more than five years ago, he had headed the “Digitization in Sports” department at the International Football Institute in Munich.
Bierhoff announced at the time: “His expertise in the areas of sports management and digitalization, which he has demonstrated as part of his professorship and in numerous international projects, is an ideal fit for our needs.” Was that actually the case?
Haupt apparently never fully arrived at the DFB. He is said to have liked to see himself in the role of a thought leader and football expert. But many practitioners with years of experience have cast serious doubts on his sporting skills. The core tenets of his critics were that he could present himself masterfully and was therefore a master of self-presentation.
Haupt undoubtedly contributed many ideas. Did they actually make a difference? Open. According to SPORT1 information, Haupt was already considered isolated during the Bierhoff era, which ended after 18 years after the World Cup in Qatar on December 6, 2022. When Rettig signed on in September of this year and started restructuring, it quickly became clear that Haupt no longer had a future at the DFB.
Has he now anticipated his dismissal? That is also possible. The fight for sovereignty of interpretation has already begun with a SPORT BILD interview on September 26, 2023. “Something has to happen now. We are in one of the biggest crises in German football. This has been partly recognized. But: Central measures that have been on the table for years are not being implemented,” complained Haupt.
The end came about two months later. Haupt and the DFB – it wasn’t a success story for either of them.
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