Stefan Kuntz and the Turkish Football Federation have reached an agreement: The 58-year-old will be the new national coach of Turkey.
The Turkish Football Federation confirmed the agreement with Kuntz on Sunday afternoon, who will succeed Senol Günes. Turkish media had already reported on Tuesday about the negotiations with the 1996 European champion, who had travelled to Istanbul for talks with the federation’s top management. The signing is expected to take place on Monday.
The DFB had already announced in advance that it would release Kuntz despite his current contract if an agreement was reached with the Turkish association.
Kuntz, who played 30 times for Besiktas in the Turkish SüperLig in the 1995/96 season, had repeatedly left his future with the DFB open and declared his intention to consider other enquiries. Although he was still in charge of the U-21 national team during the last phase of his secondment, he avoided making a clear commitment to his job. He also expressed disappointment about the selection process for Joachim Löw’s successor. Kuntz was considered one of the candidates, but a meeting announced by DFB manager Oliver Bierhoff had not taken place. Instead, Hansi Flick had been appointed national coach.
EM titles in 2017 and 2021
With the German U 21s, Kuntz had extraordinary success in his five-year tenure: in 2017 and 2021, he led the DFB selection to the title, in 2019 to the final. At the Olympic Football Tournament this year, however, his team failed in the preliminary round.
Kuntz gained his first experience as a coach at his hometown club Borussia Neunkirchen. He later coached Karlsruher SC for over two years, then took over Waldhof Mannheim and LR Ahlen before moving to the official level. First at TuS Koblenz and later at VfL Bochum, he was responsible for sporting matters, followed by an eight-year term as a board member at 1. FC Kaiserslautern from 2008 onwards, with whom he celebrated a return to the Bundesliga in the meantime. After slipping into second-division mediocrity and internal disputes, he left the Red Devils in spring 2016.
Kuntz faces a tough debut right away
A difficult task awaits Kuntz in Turkey, who was German champion (1991) and cup winner (1990) with FCK during his playing days, and was also the Bundesliga top scorer twice and won the European Championship title in 1996: despite high expectations, the national team failed miserably at the European Championship and without a win in the preliminary round.
Contrary to expectations, coach Günes was initially allowed to continue, but had to resign after the recent 6-1 defeat against the Netherlands. Turkey are currently in third place in World Cup qualifying Group G behind the Dutch and Norway. Kuntz’s debut will be a tough one: on 8 October, Turkey will play their direct rivals Norway.