He was a Germany international, a World Cup winner, the national team head coach and a European champion. Five times crowned German champion and twice UEFA Cup winner with Borussia Mönchengladbach, for whom he made 419 Bundesliga appearances. He won 96 caps as a defender for the national team, before overseeing 102 matches as head coach, before managing Bayern Leverkusen for a year in the Bundesliga. In 2001 he left Germany to work abroad, coaching in Kuwait, Scotland, Nigeria and Azerbaijan, before his most recent role as an advisor to Jürgen Klinsmann at the US Soccer national team. Today, Berti Vogts turns 70.
In an exclusive interview with DFB.de, Vogts looks back on his time in the USA, the current situation in the Bundesliga, his good impressions of head coach Joachim Löw, and his greatest success during his five-year career.
DFB.de: Mr Vogts, Twitter or Facebook – how can you be reached to wish you Happy 70th Birthday?
Vogts: Neither Twitter nor Facebook. Not at all! Those who know me know how to reach me.
DFB.de: Will you celebrate with a birthday selfie?
Vogts: (laughs) What on earth is a selfie?
DFB.de: How are you feeling as you enter your eighth decade?
Vogts: Just as I did five or ten years ago. I still run six or seven kilometres every other day. I live my life just as before. Of course, you always get the odd health setback at my age, but I have very good doctors!
DFB.de: When you look back on the last year, how would you summarise it?
Vogts: I’m not the sort of person who looks back at what was good and bad, or what should have been done better. I’m a bit sad the Jürgen Klinsmann lost his job in the USA because he has done a brilliant job there, just as he did here in Germany. It’s a shame that they didn’t want to give him longer.
DFB.de: Jürgen Klinsmann losing his job as the national team head coach also meant the end of your role as personal advisor to him. Do you think you failed there together?
Vogts: Just to clear things up, I wasn’t his personal adviser. I was an adviser to US Soccer, the association. I left my post the moment Klinsmann was sacked. I had a contract until 2018 with US Soccer.
DFB.de: So do you think you failed with US Soccer?
Vogts: How do you define failure? Our suggestions for the national team were always met resistance with the league. We never had a chance to implement what we wanted. One of the biggest problems, to name one example, was that the national team would be playing parallel to the league. As if our national team would play against Italy, while at the same time Bayern would be playing Dortmund. So, our suggestions about youth academies at the clubs constantly fell on deaf ears.
DFB.de: Ultimately the defeats to Mexico and Costa Rica were the final straw. Did he have no rest bite after five years as head coach?
Vogts: A big problem for him was that he called up too many players from Europe, because he wanted to play the best. The Americans think that that they have all the best players in their own country, which caused a lot of problems. On top of that, they ignored the quality of the Mexican and Costa Rican national teams. They weren’t taken seriously because in the USA everyone believes that, like in basketball, American football or ice hockey, that are among the top three countries in the world. But I must say one of the reasons for that is because the colleges and clubs are producing top-class players.
DFB.de: Back to Germany. Your thoughts on the first half of the 2016/17 Bundesliga season…
Vogts: I’m very happy with the fresh wind that Leipzig has brought into the Bundesliga. Especially because the usual challengers to Bayern’s crown haven’t found their rhythm yet this season. I’m excited to see if Hertha can maintain this level. They were very strong in the first half of last season, but fell away. Dortmund have an extremely talented young squad and will improve as they gain experience. Eintracht Frankfurt’s form is no surprise, because I think Nico Kovac and Fredi Bobic are very competent. Bayern are still Bayern, I’m pleased for Ancelotti. The question, as always, remains: who will be second at the end of the season?
DFB.de: Can Leipzig continue to challenge Bayern?
Vogts: Absolutely! If the money keeps flowing from Austria, then Leipzig will be a big challenger to Bayern’s dominance.
DFB.de: What are your views on the controversial topics surrounding RB Leipzig?
Vogts: I really cannot understand why Leipzig have come under such criticism, and still are. We should be happy that we have a team from the east challenging near the top of the Bundesliga. With a fantastic stadium and complex. There are several Bundesliga clubs both here and abroad that are kept afloat by sponsors. Football needs big, engaged sponsors these days, otherwise you don’t get the top-quality players you need to challenge in the Bundesliga or Champions League.
DFB.de: What are your thoughts on how things are going at your old club Borussia Mönchengladbach?
Vogts: I have to say I am quite disappointed. When people start writing, “we have the best squad we’ve ever had,” then the players believe it and naturally all the wonderful fans. This team hasn’t won a single title. I regret that Mahmoud Dahoud seems to have regressed somewhat, but I hope he can rediscover the form of his early days. He is a huge talent. Why didn’t we take him to the Olympics in Brazil?
DFB.de: Where would you rank the Bundesliga as a league?
Vogts: I’m sure it’s no secret when I say that it is among the top three leagues in the world. Within those three it’s not possible to rank them in order. Spain, England, Germany – they are all changing constantly. Now they are calling for a European Super League. Please don’t! Germans want to have their own Bundesliga and watch the top teams and their favourite players playing here in Germany.
DFB.de: Do you think Joachim Löw can become the first Germany national team coach to defend his World Cup crown in 2018?
Vogts: I hope so. For him and the team surrounding him and Oliver Bierhoff. He has the right people around him to become the first to defend the World Cup.
DFB.de: Which of your many titles do you hold in the highest regard – World Cup winner as a player in 1974 or European champion as head coach in 1996?
Vogts: For me it was the 1990 win in Italy. Because there were 18 players in Franz Beckenbauer’s World Cup squad that had played with me in the youth teams. In the U16s, U18s and U21s.
DFB.de: Finally, many happy returns to you on your birthday. How would you like to sign off the first 70 years of your life?
Vogts: Thanks, that I was able to play football. I owe everything to football.
[wt]
He was a Germany international, a World Cup winner, the national team head coach and a European champion. Five times crowned German champion and twice UEFA Cup winner with Borussia Mönchengladbach, for whom he made 419 Bundesliga appearances. He won 96 caps as a defender for the national team, before overseeing 102 matches as head coach, before managing Bayern Leverkusen for a year in the Bundesliga. In 2001 he left Germany to work abroad, coaching in Kuwait, Scotland, Nigeria and Azerbaijan, before his most recent role as an advisor to Jürgen Klinsmann at the US Soccer national team. Today, Berti Vogts turns 70.
In an exclusive interview with DFB.de, Vogts looks back on his time in the USA, the current situation in the Bundesliga, his good impressions of head coach Joachim Löw, and his greatest success during his five-year career.
DFB.de: Mr Vogts, Twitter or Facebook – how can you be reached to wish you Happy 70th Birthday?
Vogts: Neither Twitter nor Facebook. Not at all! Those who know me know how to reach me.
DFB.de: Will you celebrate with a birthday selfie?
Vogts: (laughs) What on earth is a selfie?
DFB.de: How are you feeling as you enter your eighth decade?
Vogts: Just as I did five or ten years ago. I still run six or seven kilometres every other day. I live my life just as before. Of course, you always get the odd health setback at my age, but I have very good doctors!
DFB.de: When you look back on the last year, how would you summarise it?
Vogts: I’m not the sort of person who looks back at what was good and bad, or what should have been done better. I’m a bit sad the Jürgen Klinsmann lost his job in the USA because he has done a brilliant job there, just as he did here in Germany. It’s a shame that they didn’t want to give him longer.
DFB.de: Jürgen Klinsmann losing his job as the national team head coach also meant the end of your role as personal advisor to him. Do you think you failed there together?
Vogts: Just to clear things up, I wasn’t his personal adviser. I was an adviser to US Soccer, the association. I left my post the moment Klinsmann was sacked. I had a contract until 2018 with US Soccer.
DFB.de: So do you think you failed with US Soccer?
Vogts: How do you define failure? Our suggestions for the national team were always met resistance with the league. We never had a chance to implement what we wanted. One of the biggest problems, to name one example, was that the national team would be playing parallel to the league. As if our national team would play against Italy, while at the same time Bayern would be playing Dortmund. So, our suggestions about youth academies at the clubs constantly fell on deaf ears.
DFB.de: Ultimately the defeats to Mexico and Costa Rica were the final straw. Did he have no rest bite after five years as head coach?
Vogts: A big problem for him was that he called up too many players from Europe, because he wanted to play the best. The Americans think that that they have all the best players in their own country, which caused a lot of problems. On top of that, they ignored the quality of the Mexican and Costa Rican national teams. They weren’t taken seriously because in the USA everyone believes that, like in basketball, American football or ice hockey, that are among the top three countries in the world. But I must say one of the reasons for that is because the colleges and clubs are producing top-class players.
DFB.de: Back to Germany. Your thoughts on the first half of the 2016/17 Bundesliga season…
Vogts: I’m very happy with the fresh wind that Leipzig has brought into the Bundesliga. Especially because the usual challengers to Bayern’s crown haven’t found their rhythm yet this season. I’m excited to see if Hertha can maintain this level. They were very strong in the first half of last season, but fell away. Dortmund have an extremely talented young squad and will improve as they gain experience. Eintracht Frankfurt’s form is no surprise, because I think Nico Kovac and Fredi Bobic are very competent. Bayern are still Bayern, I’m pleased for Ancelotti. The question, as always, remains: who will be second at the end of the season?
DFB.de: Can Leipzig continue to challenge Bayern?
Vogts: Absolutely! If the money keeps flowing from Austria, then Leipzig will be a big challenger to Bayern’s dominance.
DFB.de: What are your views on the controversial topics surrounding RB Leipzig?
Vogts: I really cannot understand why Leipzig have come under such criticism, and still are. We should be happy that we have a team from the east challenging near the top of the Bundesliga. With a fantastic stadium and complex. There are several Bundesliga clubs both here and abroad that are kept afloat by sponsors. Football needs big, engaged sponsors these days, otherwise you don’t get the top-quality players you need to challenge in the Bundesliga or Champions League.
DFB.de: What are your thoughts on how things are going at your old club Borussia Mönchengladbach?
Vogts: I have to say I am quite disappointed. When people start writing, “we have the best squad we’ve ever had,” then the players believe it and naturally all the wonderful fans. This team hasn’t won a single title. I regret that Mahmoud Dahoud seems to have regressed somewhat, but I hope he can rediscover the form of his early days. He is a huge talent. Why didn’t we take him to the Olympics in Brazil?
DFB.de: Where would you rank the Bundesliga as a league?
Vogts: I’m sure it’s no secret when I say that it is among the top three leagues in the world. Within those three it’s not possible to rank them in order. Spain, England, Germany – they are all changing constantly. Now they are calling for a European Super League. Please don’t! Germans want to have their own Bundesliga and watch the top teams and their favourite players playing here in Germany.
DFB.de: Do you think Joachim Löw can become the first Germany national team coach to defend his World Cup crown in 2018?
Vogts: I hope so. For him and the team surrounding him and Oliver Bierhoff. He has the right people around him to become the first to defend the World Cup.
DFB.de: Which of your many titles do you hold in the highest regard – World Cup winner as a player in 1974 or European champion as head coach in 1996?
Vogts: For me it was the 1990 win in Italy. Because there were 18 players in Franz Beckenbauer’s World Cup squad that had played with me in the youth teams. In the U16s, U18s and U21s.
DFB.de: Finally, many happy returns to you on your birthday. How would you like to sign off the first 70 years of your life?
Vogts: Thanks, that I was able to play football. I owe everything to football.
