Football
PA Sport 9y

Ottmar Hitzfeld rejected Germany because he was on brink of burnout

Ottmar Hitzfeld has told Welt am Sonntag that exhaustion was the reason he turned down the chance to become Germany coach 10 years ago.

Hitzfeld had held talks with the German Football Association (DFB) about taking charge of the national team after their disappointing showing at Euro 2004.

He had just left Bayern Munich, with whom he had won four Bundesliga titles and the Champions League, and was considered the favourite to succeed Rudi Voller.

He turned the DFB down, though -- and has now explained why.

"After six years with Bayern, I was on the brink of burnout,'' said the 65-year-old, who retired from the game after leading Switzerland to the round of 16 at the World Cup.

He explained how, towards the end of his reign as Bayern coach, which ended without a trophy in the 2003-04 season as Werder Bremen did the double, he was no longer enjoying himself as much as he should have been.

"I was only thinking, 'at least you haven't lost' whenever we won,'' he said. "Joy, adrenaline and motivation are so important in performance sport so I could tell something was not right with me.

"I simply would not have been capable of taking on this challenge. I had no energy, and when your health is not fine, you can't perform to your best.''

Hitzfeld took a two-and-a-half-year break from football before being talked back into a return to Bayern, replacing Felix Magath midway through the 2006-07 season.

Although originally having only intended to guide them until the end of the season, he signed a one-year extension a month later.

A difficult start to the 2007-08 campaign saw then club president Uli Hoeness declare that Hitzfeld's contract would not be extended again beyond the end of that term, and a subsequent transformation in form saw Bayern win a league and cup double.

Hitzfeld then took over as coach of the Switzerland national team, guiding them to victory over eventual winners Spain in the 2010 World Cup, albeit without progressing beyond the group stage.

Four years later, Switzerland went one step further before being knocked out by Argentina, and Hitzfeld delivered on his pledge to retire as soon as the World Cup was over.

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