Otto Nerz

Otto Nerz was a football manager who was born on October 21, 1892 in Hechingen, Germany, and died on April 19, 1949 at Special Camp No. 7, Sachsenhausen, Germany. Nerz was best known for being the very first coach of Germany’s national team, which was a part of the German Football Federation.

Initially, Nerz was trained to be a medical doctor. However, he did play some sports as an amateur, playing for teams such as VfR Mannheim and Tennis Borussia Berlin. In 1923, Nerz was appointed as the first national manager and selector of Germany. During that time, football was not yet considered as a major sport in the country, and German football was not yet very established so much so that it was considered inferior compared to other football playing countries like Italy, Hungary, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.

Under Nerz’ lead, the German national team gradually developed from being the weakest team in Europe to being one of the consistent and developing teams by the end of the 1920s to the early 1930s. This was largely achieved when Nerz studied in depth a large number of cup and league games that were held in England, Italy, and Austria. He also sought out pieces of advice and coaching tutorials from top coaches such as Jimmy Hogan, Vittorio Pozzo, and Hugo Meisl.

In 1930, Germany was not able to join the first time the World Cup was held in Uruguay. However, four years later, Germany had already developed into a strong team by European standards.

He was dismissed from his German national job in 1936 and was replaced by Sepp Herberger.