Germany have confirmed that they have relieved Hansi Flick of his duties in the wake of their chastening 4-1 loss against Japan.
The news was confirmed in a statement which was released on Sunday afternoon. The statement read: "The committees agreed that the Men's Senior National Team needs new impetus after the recent disappointing results. We need facing that European Championship a spirit of optimism and confidence in our own country.
"For me personally, it is one of the most difficult decisions of my time in office so far. Because I appreciate Hansi Flick and his assistant coaches as football experts and people. But sporting success is the top priority for the DFB. So the decision was inevitable."
Rudi Voller will step in to take charge of Tuesday night's fixture against France. He also commented on Flick's dismissal, which comes in the wake of Germany's disappointing performance at the 2022 World Cup, where they failed to progress past the group stage.
Voller said: "Hansi Flick has worn himself out over the past few months; together with his coaching team, he has given everything to get back on track after leaving the club World Cup in Qatar to make the turn for the better. Unfortunately, we have to realise today that it was not successful.
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"The Japan game has clearly shown us that we can no longer make any progress in this situation. This is not an easy moment for me, because I joined the DFB in February to support Hansi Flick in all my ways, to support him so that he can be successful in sport. And I firmly believed that as national coach he could manage to get our national team back on track.
Flick oversaw a disappointing World Cup campaign and was under pressure before the defeat against Japan (Alex Grimm/Getty Images)"But now we have to act responsibly, we have to change something in order to be able to play the demanding and ambitious role of host at the European Championships in our own country that we all hope for. That's what the fans in Germany rightly expect from us.
"I will therefore temporarily look after the national team for the one game against France [with] Hannes Wolf by my side. The most urgent task will then be to hire a national coach who will quickly realign our team and prepare it for the big European Championship tournament next year, from which we all hope that there will be positive impulses for German football and also for our entire country. A national coach who will then, in the long term, raise the national team back to the level that we know and expect from it."
Flick took on the national team job replacing Joachim Low in 2021 but has struggled to live up to his predecessor, who guided Germany to World Cup glory back in 2014.
Flick's reign began in impressive fashion with Germany chalking up eight consecutive wins, but results have got progressively worse since. He departs having won just 12 of his 25 matches at the helm.
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