Martina Voss-Tecklenburg: "Completely collapsed"
Former national team coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg has spoken for the first time about her psychological problems after the German women's soccer team's World Cup exit and also admitted mistakes.
A feeling of pressure on her chest, panic attacks and insomnia were the result, said the 55-year-old in a ZDF interview, in response to internal and public criticism: "I then almost completely collapsed."
The fears, the insecurity and the emptiness in her head became stronger and stronger - almost as if "the plug had been pulled on me". The German Football Association announced at the beginning of September that Voss-Tecklenburg was ill.
After a long delay, the DFB appointed Horst Hrubesch as interim coach for the German women, who had failed in the preliminary round at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Voss-Tecklenburg's contract, which ran until 2025, was terminated by the DFB at the beginning of the month.
Voss-Tecklenburg had also recently attracted criticism because she gave two lectures, although she had not yet been declared healthy again by the DFB at the time. "I then made the public appearances. In hindsight, you can say: How stupid - a mistake," said Voss-Tecklenburg.
Despite the challenging circumstances following Germany's early exit from the World Cup, the former women's national team coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg continued to support the team, attending public events before fully recovering. The German Football Association (DFB) eventually terminated Voss-Tecklenburg's contract, but the Women's National Team underwent a transformation under the leadership of interim coach Horst Hrubesch.
Source: www.dpa.com
