Christian Streich was unsure that he had not already been honoured with the title of ‘Coach of the Year’, having already won a trophy from kicker in 2012. A short brainstorming session with kicker editor Carsten Schröter-Lorenz brought clarity to this debate. Ten years ago Christian Streich was awarded the “golden k” in a vote of the magazine’s readers. This time, he received the trophy having come out on top in a vote carried out by kicker and the Verband Deutscher Sportjournalisten (the Association of German Sports Journalists).

“I am really accepting this award as a representative of all of those who work as a part of this team,” replied Streich when asked what the award meant to him. He suggested that as the coach he is just the person who brings together lots of different departments and that you constantly see on TV. However, the 57-year-old did not feign complete modesty, clarifying “I am obviously also happy for myself that so many people voted this way and also to hear such nice words from Hansi, Kloppo and Jogi.”

Kicker editor in chief Rainer Franzke travelled from Nürnberg to present the award and described Streich as a man “with responsibility, an expert understanding of football and brilliant performances.” 276 of 699 journalists who took part in the vote saw it the same way, meaning Streich won the vote with a large majority. Lea Schüller of Bayern Munich was voted female footballer of the year, while Christopher Nkunku won the men’s vote. They all took home trophies, with Christian Streich confirming that he will find a good place for it in his home, so that it is not the first thing that visitors see, but upon request it can easily be shown off.