How to keep a World Cup squad happy? Germany’s Hansi Flick explains

What goes into the job of a football manager? Clicking e-mails? Tactics? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that — as Germany head coach and man management extraordinaire Hansi Flick explained ahead of his team’s participation at the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup.

Leadership, Hansi says, comes down to communication. Which, in a highly talented, highly ambitious squad of twenty-six for which there are only eleven starting spots, is easier said than done!

“It’s important to be honest and open with the players, communicate with them and tell them what we’re expecting,” the 57-year-old Flick explained ahead of his first major tournament in charge of the German national team (via @iMiaSanMia).

But this isn’t quite his first go-around. In 2014, he was Joachim Löw’s assistant in Brazil for the exultant champions.

“In 2014, there were players like Roman Weidenfeller, who didn’t play but were important for the team,” Flick added.

Flick was also Niko Kovač’s assistant at Bayern Munich through some trying times for players — including an occasion when he was seen comforting a devastated Javi Martinez after being left out on his son’s third birthday back in October of 2019.

When he finally got the chance to sit in the chair in 2020, Flick did not throw away his shot — and promptly led the Bavarians to a famous Champions League victory en route to a sextuple.

That’s the kind of success Flick will now be seeking to duplicate for Germany at the World Cup — and there is the distinct sense that there isn’t a person alive better suited to the task.