Maren Meinert was the first woman to be awarded the German football coach of the year prize on Monday. DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach gave her the award at a ceremony in Bonn on Monday. After the ceremony, she spoke to DFB.de.
DFB.de: Congratulations on the award. How do you feel?
Maren Meinert: I’m really happy and proud. I accept the award on behalf of the people who I work with. It goes to show that we’ve been doing things properly in Germany recently. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us though, we want to qualify for the U19 European Championships in Israel – we play Scotland, Ukraine and Belgium. We’re favourites so we can’t afford to take our eyes off the ball.
DFB.de: You’ve been in the job for 10 years now, how was it been for you?
Meinert: It’s been great. I have met some fantastic people. I had only just completed my course when I got the job and I am grateful to the DFB for giving me the job so quickly. I’ve gained a lot from working with Silvia Neid, Ulrike Ballweg and Bettina Wiegmann, who had experience of playing the game. It’s helped us progress.
DFB.de: You’ve been successful too – five title is a great record…
Meinert: I have won three U19 European Championships and two U20 World Cups, which is fantastic. They are symbols of our teamwork. You can only achieve this things when you work together.
DFB.de: Are you proud?
Meinert: Of course we can but the biggest achievement is getting players into the senior team.
DFB.de: Did you think you’d be in the job for 10 years when you started out?
Meinert: I’m not the sort of person to think about that. I only think about the job in hand. In this industry spending 10 years in a position is impressive. It certainly hasn’t been boring – we have to create a new team from scratch every two years.
DFB.de: Is it difficult when your players move on?
Meinert: There are mixed feelings because you’ve worked with them for a long time but you know that they’re progressing with their careers. New talent emerges soon after anyway. The best U16, U17 and U18 players come to us and we prepare them for the senior squad.
DFB.de: Do you have a favourite team?
Meinert: No, it would be wrong of me to compare the teams. They’re unique.
DFB.de: Which title would you say is your favourite?
Meinert: Winning the U20 World Cup in 2010 in Germany was fantastic. The support was incredible. I vividly remember the final, which was in Bielefeld.
DFB.de: The U19 European Championship is this summer. You are in a qualifying group alongside Scotland, Ukraine and Belgium. What do you make of the situation?
Meinert: We’re favourites; not qualifying would be a huge disappointment. We can’t rest on our laurels though. The standard is high – we need to top the group and if we have one bad day, our chances could be jeopardised.
DFB.de: Can you imagine a life without football?
Meinert: I first watched a game when I was five with my father. My entire family are football crazy and so am I. I don’t know whether I could life without it. I don’t want to try anything else! I’m lucky that I love my job.
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Maren Meinert was the first woman to be awarded the German football coach of the year prize on Monday. DFB President Wolfgang Niersbach gave her the award at a ceremony in Bonn on Monday. After the ceremony, she spoke to DFB.de.
DFB.de: Congratulations on the award. How do you feel?
Maren Meinert: I’m really happy and proud. I accept the award on behalf of the people who I work with. It goes to show that we’ve been doing things properly in Germany recently. There’s still a lot of work ahead of us though, we want to qualify for the U19 European Championships in Israel – we play Scotland, Ukraine and Belgium. We’re favourites so we can’t afford to take our eyes off the ball.
DFB.de: You’ve been in the job for 10 years now, how was it been for you?
Meinert: It’s been great. I have met some fantastic people. I had only just completed my course when I got the job and I am grateful to the DFB for giving me the job so quickly. I’ve gained a lot from working with Silvia Neid, Ulrike Ballweg and Bettina Wiegmann, who had experience of playing the game. It’s helped us progress.
DFB.de: You’ve been successful too – five title is a great record…
Meinert: I have won three U19 European Championships and two U20 World Cups, which is fantastic. They are symbols of our teamwork. You can only achieve this things when you work together.
DFB.de: Are you proud?
Meinert: Of course we can but the biggest achievement is getting players into the senior team.
DFB.de: Did you think you’d be in the job for 10 years when you started out?
Meinert: I’m not the sort of person to think about that. I only think about the job in hand. In this industry spending 10 years in a position is impressive. It certainly hasn’t been boring – we have to create a new team from scratch every two years.
DFB.de: Is it difficult when your players move on?
Meinert: There are mixed feelings because you’ve worked with them for a long time but you know that they’re progressing with their careers. New talent emerges soon after anyway. The best U16, U17 and U18 players come to us and we prepare them for the senior squad.
DFB.de: Do you have a favourite team?
Meinert: No, it would be wrong of me to compare the teams. They’re unique.
DFB.de: Which title would you say is your favourite?
Meinert: Winning the U20 World Cup in 2010 in Germany was fantastic. The support was incredible. I vividly remember the final, which was in Bielefeld.
DFB.de: The U19 European Championship is this summer. You are in a qualifying group alongside Scotland, Ukraine and Belgium. What do you make of the situation?
Meinert: We’re favourites; not qualifying would be a huge disappointment. We can’t rest on our laurels though. The standard is high – we need to top the group and if we have one bad day, our chances could be jeopardised.
DFB.de: Can you imagine a life without football?
Meinert: I first watched a game when I was five with my father. My entire family are football crazy and so am I. I don’t know whether I could life without it. I don’t want to try anything else! I’m lucky that I love my job.
