Stefan Kuntz was presented as Turkey’s national coach on Monday. Afterwards, the 58-year-old spoke about his departure from the DFB, his new job – and a planned return to Germany.
In a “ceremony”, at least that’s what the Turkish Football Association announced, Kuntz signed a three-year contract on Monday afternoon and thus officially sealed his engagement as Turkish national coach. Afterwards, he completed a small press marathon: first he answered the Turkish journalists’ questions, then, due to the lack of an interpreter, he moderated a smaller digital media round with German press representatives himself.
“Every now and then, there have to be new challenges for me,” Kuntz said, explaining his move to the Bosporus. Coaching a “senior national team and working abroad, in a country where I have a positive past… that totally flashed me.” Accordingly, it was quickly apparent that his extremely successful tenure as U-21 coach at the DFB was coming to an end. However, it was important to Kuntz to always play with “open cards” – also to possibly return one day: “It’s always good when you leave and the door is open if you want to come back.”
“I don’t take any notice of the people I had to deal with at the DFB. “
STEFAN KUNTZ
“The process was totally professional,” emphasised the former international. He said he was very grateful to the DFB and those responsible around manager Oliver Bierhoff and Joti Chatzialexiou (sporting director of national teams). “I won’t take anything from the people I dealt with at the DFB,” Kuntz clarified. Saying goodbye to the team he had coached in the last international window at the start of the new European Championship qualifying campaign was not very difficult for him, “because it’s a new year now”. Much more emotional, on the other hand, was his farewell to the coaching and support staff with whom he has worked intensively over the past few years and who have almost shaped his tenure.
Kuntz wants to take the Turkish team to the European Championship in Germany
For him, it is now a matter of building up his own staff, and Kuntz also confirmed his interest in former Hannover coach Kenan Kocak. After that, a strenuous phase begins for him until the perhaps already pre-decisive World Cup qualifier against Norway on 8 October. “At the moment, it looks like I’m swapping the car seat for the plane seat,” Kuntz said. In other words, from now on he will travel through numerous countries and leagues to get a first-hand impression of his new players.
In general, he doesn’t want to dwell too much on the past, on Turkey’s performance in the European Championship (they were knocked out in the preliminary round) and the recent defeat in the qualifiers against the Netherlands (1:6). The World Cup qualifiers are about getting the best out of them – but Kuntz is already thinking about the phase after that. It’s about “building up a younger generation with a view to the European Championship in 2024”, he explains. If the qualification is successful, Kuntz will return to his home country – with the Turkish team. After all, the tournament will take place in Germany.