Rudi Voller revealed his first reaction at being asked to become director of the Germany national team was: "Is there nobody else?"
The former Germany striker and head coach ultimately agreed to take on the job, filling the role previously held by Oliver Bierhoff until he departed after a second successive World Cup failure.
Voller's appointment was confirmed by the German Football Association (DFB), with head coach Hansi Flick among those who welcomed his arrival.
It came after deliberations from a DFB task force that included Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Oliver Kahn, Matthias Sammer and Oliver Mintzlaff, plus Voller himself.
Hans-Joachim Watzke offered 62-year-old Voller the job, and the vide-president may have been surprised by the initial response.
"First I asked: 'Is there nobody else?' I wasn't really convinced," said Voller. "In the end I let myself be convinced."
Watzke, speaking at a press conference on Friday said there were "arguments" between the pair to begin with.
"Then we found each other more and more. In the meantime, a friendship and a total relationship of trust have developed from it," Watzke said. "Rudi is actually ideal for this position."
Voller will begin work on February 1, the DFB said. He won 90 caps for West Germany and later Germany, playing a significant part in the Italia 90 World Cup triumph.
He went on to become head coach of the team that lost to Brazil in the 2002 World Cup final.
Voller has held various roles at Bayer Leverkusen but will direct his energy to the Germany job for now.
Germany will host the Euro 2024 finals, and bringing about success in that tournament will be the priority for Voller and Flick. Group-stage exits at the last two World Cups came either side of a Euro 2020 last-16 defeat to England, leaving the national team in the doldrums.
Voller said: "First of all, we have to lay the foundations for a successful home European Championship in 2024, supported by the whole of Germany. We have the players to do this.
"Out of these top players, we want to form a close-knit community, a strong-willed and likeable national team with the clear purpose of winning back the complete support of the fans. Above all, I would like to give plenty of support to head coach Hansi Flick and his coaching team."
Flick said of the appointment: "Rudi is a constant in German football. He has thrilled the fans in both his manner and his successes as a player, coach and general manager.
"At this point in time, with his experience with the national team and his years of work at Bayer Leverkusen, he is the right appointment for the task ahead. My coaching team and I are looking forward to working together with him towards the home European Championship next year."
Conte: Napoli need to focus on improvement, not Serie A lead
Napoli should pay little attention to their place at the top of Serie A, so says Antonio Conte, who has demanded improvement from his team.
Romelu Lukaku's second-half goal handed Napoli a 1-0 win over Roma on Sunday.
That victory sent Napoli back to the summit of Serie A, with Conte's side one point ahead of Atalanta, Inter, Fiorentina and Lazio, while Juventus are only four points back in a six-team title race.
Napoli needed to get back to winning ways after a draw against Inter and a 3-0 loss to Atalanta before the international break, and Conte insists his team must sharpen up.
"Before the match, I told the lads not to look at the table, but to focus on ourselves and improving what we are working on," Conte told Sky Sport Italia.
"I maintain that now too because we need to take a series of steps to raise the level.
"I was satisfied with the performance for a good 65 minutes today, we could’ve taken more of our chances and were up against a strong Roma who have great players.
"Roma were also making their debut under a new coach and therefore were very eager to prove themselves, but we still should've dealt with the final 15-20 minutes better, as we sat too deep and made it complicated for ourselves."
Roma, playing under new boss Claudio Ranieri, came close to equalising when Artem Dovbyk hit the woodwork with a header.
Ranieri came out of retirement to take charge of Roma following Ivan Juric's dismissal earlier in November, though the visitors had just six shots and accumulated only 0.6 expected goals (xG) at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
"If we look back, we have some problems and that is why I was called. We were up against a team that is fighting to win the Scudetto," Ranieri told Sky Sport Italia.
"Having said all of that, I am happy with the performance from my players. We made some mistakes that we will talk about during the week, but the hunger, the determination to get back on track was there.
"We have a lot of work to do, but I feel positive.
"We know there is work to be done, we have to focus on reacting rather than sitting there feeling sorry for ourselves.
"The [players] need the right character to help themselves and then others. Naturally, when I arrived, the team was a little closed up, but I think we started to open up a bit by the second half."
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
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