Women fan the flames of the DFB's ongoing crisis

World Cup debacle, coaching chaos, communication breakdowns: After an inspiring high the year before, 2023 is going totally badly for the DFB women. At least they got off lightly and the dream of the Olympics lives on. But it is accompanied by numerous major tasks.

Dancing on the grass, shining eyes and broad grins, goals for the euphoria. Just a few days later: None of that anymore. The World Cup opener with a 6:0 win against Morocco was followed by the first elimination in the group stage. The decisive 3:0 in the Nations League against Denmark was followed by a meagre 0:0 against Wales. The DFB women had a year full of contrasts. At the end of the year, they got away with a black eye.

Their own strength flagging, their eyes fixed anxiously on the parallel game - it was almost déjà vu for the DFB women on December 4. A dramatic, groundbreaking one, right in the middle of a dead end. A tournament knockout, the second in four months. The World Cup debacle was followed by the premature cancellation of the Olympics. But that was narrowly averted and the dream of taking part in the Olympic Games in Paris lives on.

The DFB team has Iceland to thank, as they beat Denmark in their final Nations League game, ensuring that Germany's once again shockingly weak 0-0 draw in Wales was enough for the DFB to win their group. The national team can now play for a ticket to Paris in the final tournament. Interim coach Horst Hrubesch's team had shown their shining face against Denmark just three days earlier, overtaking their rivals in the table with a 3-0 win to book their place in the final tournament.

The same situation had ended differently in the summer. At the World Cup in Australia, Germany had only drawn 1-1 with South Korea in their third group match, and as Morocco won against Colombia in the parallel match, the team of then national coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was eliminated from the World Cup group stage for the first time. And at a time when attention had never been greater. The euphoria of the previous year's European Championship had sparked so much promise. Instead: Disappointment. On all sides.

A team with two faces

A lot has happened since then, especially off the pitch. Voss-Tecklenburg is exhausted, can no longer cope and goes on sick leave. Her departure followed a communication debacle on the part of the association and her personally, appearances as a speaker during a previously undisclosed vacation after her sick leave, player disappointment and backlash, rumors of internal strife within the coaching team and players being favored or ignored. In the midst of all this chaos, Hrubesch, the savior of the DFB women's team, is making his second appearance since 2018. In December, Nia Künzer was appointed to the new post of sports director for women's soccer, while long-serving Joti Chatzialexiou stepped down.

And on the pitch? Hrubesch has at least partially achieved a sporting turnaround. The players are delighted with the 72-year-old, who has kept in touch with many of them since his first assignment. From a footballing point of view, games with a joy for the game alternate with lame performances. Is the team now as good as against Denmark or as bad as against Wales? The two faces are a cause for concern, but not only in the national team.

Two international tournaments in two consecutive years, plus Wolfsburg making it to the final of the Champions League - these are energy-sapping seasons. This is currently evident in the team from Lower Saxony, who did not make it through the qualifiers for this year's Champions League season, who are nowhere near as dominant as usual, with six-pointer Lena Oberdorf, for example, paying tribute to many minor ailments and ultimately not even being able to be nominated for the DFB squad.

Nevertheless, the DFB team is showing a slight upward trend under Hrubesch. At the end of the year, the minimum goal is participation in the final tournament at the end of February. Also because luck has been kind to the team this time.

Lucky draw with France

This is also evident in the draw for the final matches, with the team's wish of playing France in the semi-finals coming true. Should the neighboring country, which is seeded to host the Summer Games, make it to the final, the third-placed team would also be in Paris. That's why Hrubesch's hopes were pinned on France as their opponents. "If something goes wrong, we still have a second chance." The only drawback is that the DFB team will have to play away on February 23 and will not have a home game in the final or third-place match on February 28.

"France is a seasoned and mature team that will demand a lot from us," said Hrubesch. And yet the draw is accompanied by a good omen. After all, the DFB women have never lost to France at the World and European Championships. Thanks to two goals from captain Alexandra Popp, the team defeated the French 2:1 in the semi-finals of the brilliant Euro 2022, and just ten weeks later they won another friendly 2:1.

The team will compete in France with Hrubesch on the sidelines, and he will also be present at the Olympic Games if they qualify, as DFB president Bernd Neuendorf confirmed in mid-December. But the interim solution is on the edge of his seat, Hrubesch is only with the DFB because his actual employer, where he is youth coordinator, has a lot of patience. This patience cannot be exhausted forever. And so the search for a successor is underway, now with the active help of former world champion Künzer, who, as Rudi Völler's counterpart in the men's team, should and wants to set the course for a successful future. "It is crucial that the focus is now not only on the Olympic Games, but that strategic decisions are made on the way to the 2025 European Championship in Switzerland. This must now be tackled promptly," she told dpa before taking office. The European Championship qualifiers start directly after the Olympic Games.

Coach does not impose himself

Who succeeds Voss-Tecklenburg and Hrubesch is, of course, extremely important. While numerous rumors were circulating about the men's team before the appointment of Julian Nagelsmann, the situation is different for the women. The pool of female candidates is small and coaches are underrepresented in comparison. Will it remain a German solution or will there be an international representative?

Former national team player Inka Grings, who retired as Switzerland coach after the World Cup, has already put herself in a position: "I'm German, I live in Germany and I have the 'German mentality'. It is certainly a very demanding job, but also one of the most interesting positions ever," she told T-Online. In 14 international matches under her direction, however, the Swiss women, who Voss-Tecklenburg had also previously coached, had only managed one win. The DFB can probably only dream of top international stars like Europe's coach of the year, Sarina Wiegmann, who reached two consecutive finals with England and previously won the European Championship with her home country, the Netherlands. She has even been linked with England's men's national team.

But the coaching issue, Olympic qualification and European Championship preparations are still not enough. Together with Belgium and the Netherlands, Germany is bidding to host the 2027 World Cup, another project that is keeping the DFB busy. The competition is fierce: Mexico and the USA want to host the women's event just one year after the men's event, and Brazil is also staking a claim. There is no favorite. For Germany, it would be the next Women's World Cup after 2011. Incidentally, Künzer also has to get the recent unfortunate communication back on track. After the World Cup debacle, Neuendorf had given Voss-Tecklenburg a job guarantee, which had to be withdrawn. The differences between the team and coaches during the World Cup and at the training camp beforehand are also said to have caught the association bosses off guard too late.

There are big tasks to overcome. For the players on the pitch and for all those responsible off the pitch. Everyone will emerge from this year of crisis with a black eye. Final knockout or triumphant comeback? The battle for an Olympic ticket is likely to set the tone for everything that lies ahead.