Germany sack head coach Hansi Flick after Japan thrashing - ESPN

Hansi Flick was fired as Germany head coach on Sunday, the country's football federation (DFB) announced, one day after a 4-1 loss to Japan deepened the gloom around the squad ahead of hosting next year's European Championship.

The DFB said director Rudi Völler would be one of three coaches taking joint charge of the next game, a friendly against France on Tuesday in Dortmund.

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Germany have not won any of their past five games and were eliminated in the group stage at last year's World Cup.

Flick said after the loss to Japan that he wanted to remain as coach and insisted he was the right person for the job. Sunday's announcement came hours after he led the team in a public training session attended by fans.

Flick won the Champions League with Bayern Munich in 2020 and took the Germany job the following year. He started by winning all of his first eight games — without facing any of Europe's top teams — but has just four wins from 17 matches since then.

Germany captain Ilkay Gündogan backed Flick to remain after the Japan game but said the team sorely lacked cohesion.

«A lot of our players, they are in a mental fight with themselves. There's no confidence, there's no understanding for the timing, for the right decisions on the pitch,» Gündogan told broadcaster beIN.

The interim coaching staff faces a tough task against France, who have won all of their five Euro 2024 qualifiers without conceding a single goal since losing the World Cup final on penalties to Argentina last year.

A likely permanent replacement could be Julian Nagelsmann. He was Flick's successor at Bayern until the club replaced him with Thomas Tuchel in March. After the France game, Germany are next in