Stielike takes Under-21 reins

Former VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach and Real Madrid CF defender Uli Stielike has been appointed as coach of the Germany Under-21 side following the departure of Jürgen Köhler.

Under-20 experience
Stielike had previously been coach of the Under-20 side and Team 2006, effectively a B-squad aimed at developing players for the FIFA World Cup finals. As a player, he was capped 42 times by his country and represented them at the 1982 World Cup.

'Proven expert'
"We found a very good solution with which we all are happy," said Gerhard Mayer-Vorfelder, the president of the German Football Association. "Stielike is a proven expert in working with young talent. He also knows a lot about other European countries and his assistant will be Horst Hrubesch."

First challenge
Hrubesch, by coincidence, was the man who replaced Stielike as assistant to national coach Erich Ribbeck shortly before the finals of EURO 2000™. Stielike's first game in charge will be against Serbia and Montenegro on 29 April.

Köhler success
Köhler left the Under-21 team with 100 per cent record, after agreeing to become technical director of Bayer 04 Leverkusen.