Guti Chatzialeksiou will leave the DFB at the end of the year – the sporting director draws a line after 20 years

The era of Guti Chatzialeksiu in the German Football Association is over. The national team’s sporting director will leave the German Football Association at the end of the year at his request – after 20 years, the federation announced on Tuesday. It remains unclear whether there will be a successor to this position.

“It has always been a great honor for me to work for the German Football Association,” said the 47-year-old, who joined the German Football Association in December 2003 and wants to continue playing. “I will leave with tears in my eyes and laughter.” Football in the future.

Leaving a gap in the German Football Association, Chatzialeksiou said he would soon bring his “knowledge” and “passion for innovative youth and elite development” elsewhere “in the dynamically evolving international football”.

“With Guti Chatzialksiou, he will leave the central player who played a key role in shaping the German Football Association over the past two decades. Thanks to his great commitment and great experience behind the scenes, he has set the course for German football time and time again,” the DFB President said. Bernd Neuendorf.

Rudi Föller also regrets his departure. The sporting director of the men’s national team said: “I have worked with Guti in a very reliable way over the past year. As part of my work with the U-21 team, I was able to experience first-hand his great passion for football and myself.” “I am completely convinced of its quality.”

The German Football Association’s sporting director, Andreas Rettig, sees it similarly: “I regret the passing of Guti Czatzialksiu. He left us room in which to develop future successes. The German Football Association will miss him on both a professional and personal level.”

Born in Frankfurt, Chatzialeksiou began his career at the FIFA World Cup as national team manager and then in turn contributed to the successful organization of the 2006 World Cup on home soil as advisor to the Secretary-General.

Chatzialeksiou later worked mainly in the youth sector and celebrated success as team manager and department head before taking up his current position as sporting director of the national team at the beginning of 2018.

Since the German Football Association has restructured in recent months and Föller, Andreas Rettig and Nia Kunzer have been added to those in charge of the sport, a new appointment to Chatzialksiou’s current position does not seem very necessary.