Back before Germany’s participation in Level One of the 2024/25 IFAF European Championships had been confirmed, IFAF caught up with head coach Shuan Fatah, not long after his appointment in February 2023.
Germany is now on the verge of qualifying for next year’s semifinal stages of the tournament, if they can beat Sweden at Grotenburg Stadion in Krefeld on Saturday, kickoff 5pm CET.
Shuan’s plans for the men’s national team - a role he combines with overseeing the AFVD’s flag football programs – are now coming to fruition. Germany returned to competitive action following a ten-year absence with a 49-11 win away to Great Britain.
Shuan needs no introduction within European American football. The Berlin native has won multiple titles in Germany as both a player and coach, was a national coach with NFL Europe, and achieved great success with the Swarco Raiders in Austria. Among numerous accomplishments he counts four World Bowls, six German Bowls, five Austrian Bowls, two Eurobowls, and three CEFL championships.
Germany was ranked 12th among Europe’s elite nations heading into the current European competition, but with the talent and club level experience to be competitive out of the gate.
“You know that you can compete immediately, which is an unusual situation,” he said of Germany’s return and relatively low rank. “How do you approach that? There's no question we can compete in the Level One group. Obviously, the players are eager to play, we are as a staff, and it's just so unfortunate that we have had this long period of time away from international competition.
“What we did in 2023 was we talked it over and we located the best hundred or so players in the country. Then we have future players that will come in out of the junior national team where we have our eye on those players.
“That that was really for me important; to get a handle on the players and the personnel. We established the coaching staff with new guys and there's some young coaches in there.”
With a blank slate at his disposal, Shuan set the parameters and criteria for selecting the first German national team for the majority of players; a new generation previously unable to represent their country. Germany did not defend the European title won in 2014, a third crown in four tournaments having also claimed gold in 2001 and 2010.
“I wanted them to make sure the south, east, north and west of Germany are represented and I wanted active coaches that are actually coaching at a high level in Germany,” said Shuan of his selection process. “I wasn't interested in guys that haven't done anything for 10 years and have only been with the national team.
“Some guys were retiring, so we needed younger fresh blood in there and then we have camps to fill up the roster people and to move people up from the 100 roster to the 75.”
Coaching a national team is vastly different from the weekly interaction with players at the club level where Shuan has made his name, presenting a different challenge.
“Week to week, game to game, it's different because you have really limited preparation time,” he explained. “But also, it's rewarding because you’ve got the best athletes out of a country that has really strong football leagues. Obviously, I'm enjoying having a deep pool of players that can actually play the game on a high level. There’s not a problem of not having enough offensive lineman or enough linebackers healthy.
“But it is a challenge because people underestimate the point of team unity, chemistry, you know. That also has to be built back up and you are limited to one or two camps before you go play games over the course of the whole year. That's where a club team is different because on a weekly basis you can do stuff and your message gets repeated. You can establish an identity.”
As with any national team in any sport, there are elements that are out of a head coach’s hands, such as players picking in injuries and not being available for selection.
“I had this in Austria too, so I'm a veteran coming from that viewpoint,” said Shuan. “You have to live with it and run with it, always try to cross your fingers that your best players stay healthy. There were a lot of injuries in Germany last year, major injuries even in my club team, that I never experienced before. I don't know why there’s so many ACL injuries. It just was crazy.”
Twelve months on from talking to IFAF, Shuan has navigated the selection process, pre-tournament camps and that historic first game back after ten years away, winning on the road against Great Britain. This Saturday, last year’s fourth-place finisher and 2021 runner up Sweden stands in the way of a German advance to the final four of the playoffs. Germany would have won four straight Euro crowns before their exile, but for Sweden beating then in the 2005 final.
As the AFVD website and social media accounts currently proclaim: Team Germany is Back.
Photo: Sonya-Matysiak
