Christoph Daum is finally a national team coach. He made his mark in the German Bundesliga by creating teams at Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen that almost became league champions, by surprisingly winning the German title with VfB Stuttgart in 1992 and by almost being appointed head of the German national team.
At the beginning of his career in particular he was an innovator, but was also strident and confrontational. Many people even described Daum, who never reached the top of the game as a player, as one of the league's first 'concept coaches' before the term even existed. He found a second home in Turkey, where he won the league and cup with Besiktas and took the title twice with Fenerbahce, while he enjoyed further success at Austria Vienna by winning the double in 2003.
At Leverkusen, Daum once made players walk on shards of glass in order to illustrate their "mental strength" to them, and one of his former charges summarised his powers of motivation thus: "If you're only 5'4" and speak with Daum, then you feel like you're 6'1"." Daum always wanted to be a national team coach – and now he is, having been appointed by Romania in July 2016. He is fully motivated once again.
"It's always been one of my aims to participate at a European Championship or World Cup with a national team because you have to be at your best in a short space of time," the 62-year-old said in an interview with FIFA.com. "As a club coach you have lengthy periods to prepare, but with a national team you have to apply your experience together with the players and staff in a very short time. Having to take such quick decisions is a new challenge for me."
The golden era of the Romanian national side was in the 1990s, when Gheorghe Hagi's star shone brightly in helping them knock out Argentina in the last 16 at the 1994 FIFA World Cup USA™. Their last outing at the tournament came four years later in France, while they were eliminated at the group stage of UEFA EURO 2016.
"The new board of directors at the Romanian Football Association are building new and, above all, better structures in every area of football and I'm happy to be able to contribute to that," said Daum, who considers it an honour to be the first foreign national team coach in the history of Romanian football.
Transition
It did not take Daum long to realise how different the role would be to that of club football: "The level of responsibility of a national team coach is far greater than that of a club coach. At a club you're contributing to working on ideal structures in a localised part of the country, whereas a national coach's sphere of influence extends across the whole nation. The influence and opportunity to shape matters are very comprehensive and appealing. As national team coach I see it as part of my duty to be an instigator in many areas and a supporter of every club, coach and player in the country."
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