Former Bayern Coach Turns Down National Team Job

Ottmar Hitzfeld, former coach of Bayer Munich who lost his job there last year, has rejected an offer to coach the German national team. Hitzfeld, who led Bayern Munich to four German championships in six years, had met with the president of the German soccer association over the weekend to discuss his possibly replacing Rudi Völler, the national team's coach who stepped down after Germany's poor performance in this year's European championships. Hitzfeld had asked for time to think about the offer, but has now turned down the job, saying he wants to take a year off work. "At the moment I'm not in the shape I believe would be required to help the German national team prepare for the 2006 World Cup," he said in a statement published on the soccer association's Web site.