Football: Hrubesch to take over German women's team, again

Germany's DFB football association announced on Saturday that 72-year-old Horst Hrubesch would take on a second stint as interim coach of the women's national team. 

Leadership of the women's team had been uncertain since the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, with coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg on sick leave for several weeks now.

Details of her condition have not been made public. Senior players including captain Alexandra Popp had started to complain about the period of uncertainty, with Voss-Tecklenburg's illness announced by the DFB on September 8.

The side was not even able to complete its debrief following its shock exit in the group phase of the competition in Australia and New Zealand.

Hurbesch taking a second stint in temporary charge

The DFB also said Hrubesch was bringing his colleague Thoman Nörenberg with him as an assistant. Britta Carlson, who had been deputizing for Voss-Tecklenburg until now, will continue to work alongside Hrubesch and Nörenberg.

"With a view to the hopefully continuing recovery of Martina Voss-Tecklenburg as well as in cosideration of sporting developments, Hrubesch and Nörenberg are taking over until further notice," the DFB said. 

SV Hamburg said Hrubesch would continue his duties as director of the youth academy performance center when not in duty for the women's national team. 

"For me it's a matter of the heart," said Hrubesch, who was interim coach to many of the current players as recently as 2018, before Voss-Tecklenburg took up the job. "I did not have to think about the request for very long." 

"I'm looking forward to the collective work with the team. We will together try to put ourselves in a good position for the Olympic qualifying process in the remaining Nations League games," Hrubesch said. 

The team is in action later this month, against Wales at home on October 27 and then in Iceland on October 31.

Mainstay in the German coaching setup for decades

As well as his 8 months with the women's team in 2018, Hrubsech has spent much of his coaching career working with the German federation in various roles, often connected to youth talent. 

At Euro 2000, he was assistant coach to the senior men's team under Erich Ribbeck. In the years that followed, he's coached Germany's under-18's, under-19's, under-20's and under-21's for various stints, and also stewarded Germany's 2016 Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro. 

A striker in his playing days, best known for his proliffic stints with Rot-Weiss Essen and SV Hamburg, the 72-year-old won the Bundesliga title three times and is the league's third most efficient striker in terms of goals to number of games played, trailing only Robert Lewandowski and his contemporary Gerd Müller.

msh/lo (dpa, SID)