2024-09-03 00:48:33
Not all captains were happy
Kimmich follows in big footsteps at the DFB
02.09.2024 – 22:56Reading time: 4 min.
Joshua Kimmich is the new captain of the German national team. The history of the DFB leaders shows that things were particularly turbulent and emotional in this millennium.
Since the legendary Fritz Walter won the World Cup in 1954, the position of captain of the German national football team has taken on immense public significance. Franz Beckenbauer wore the black and white armband 50 times until the World Cup victory in 1974. With the retirement of İlkay Gündoğan from the DFB team, a new captain was sought for the start of the new international season.
National coach Julian Nagelsmann, who tends to think in terms of flat hierarchies, decided on Joshua Kimmich after the DFB squad met in Herzogenaurach on Monday (read more here).
“It was like this: I was second captain at the European Championships. İlkay has now stopped, so the roles have been redistributed and the cards reshuffled,” said Kimmich after FC Bayern’s 2-0 win against SC Freiburg on Sunday. The 29-year-old is following in big footsteps.
But the handover of office in this millennium has not always been as quiet as it was this time. Here is an overview of the DFB captains since 2000.
The new start under DFB team manager Rudi Völler after the early Euro 2000 knockout is more difficult than many people remember today. The World Cup qualification is a nail-biter. Captain Oliver Bierhoff is particularly criticized. The Golden Boy from the 1996 Euro triumph is heading towards the end of his career and is no longer a regular. Half a year before the 2002 World Cup, he is stepping down from his position.
“It is helpful that he has put an end to the excessive and unjustified fuss about his role as captain,” explained Völler. Oliver Kahn will be captain. With the goalkeeping titan as their leader, the DFB team will make it to the final in Asia.
Jürgen Klinsmann becomes national coach after the botched 2004 European Championship. And one of his first official acts is to remove Kahn as captain. “I want a field player who has connections to all parts of the team and who takes the reins in difficult phases,” the great reformer explains his decision in favor of Michael Ballack.
It is a dismantling of Kahn in installments. Shortly before the summer fairytale, Kahn is replaced as number one, and Jens Lehmann is in goal at the 2006 World Cup on home soil. Kahn swallows his great frustration and gets his farewell match in the match for third place against Portugal (3:1) – once again as captain.
Kevin-Prince Boateng unintentionally influences DFB history. He injures Ballack with a foul in the English Cup final. The 2010 World Cup takes place without the captain. Lahm is initially promoted to tournament captain by national coach Joachim Löw. As the head of a young, successful team, he impresses in South Africa. What no one thinks: Ballack will not return to the DFB team.
Another injury set him back in autumn 2010. Löw no longer saw any use for the former leader. After a crisis meeting in March 2011, both had different opinions. Ballack still believed he would return. Löw said the opposite. The rift could no longer be mended. Ballack accused Löw of “hypocrisy” and decided not to play a farewell match as a national player.
For the first time since Klinsmann in 1998, a DFB captain has managed to leave the team without causing a stir or scandal. On the contrary: after Walter, Beckenbauer and Lothar Matthäus (1990), Lahm is the fourth German player to lift the World Cup trophy as captain.
On the magical night in Rio, he crowned his career with a 1-0 win against Argentina after extra time and ended his DFB career. The Munich native was later named honorary captain and organized the 2024 European Championships at home as tournament director. His successor was quickly found: colleague Bastian Schweinsteiger.