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Doctor Otto Nerz (21 October 1892 in Mannheim, Germany - 18 April, 1949 in Sachsenhausen, Germany) was a German football manager, the first ever head coach of the Germany national football team between 1923 and 1936.
A trained medical doctor, Nerz played as an amateur for Mannheim and Tennis Berlin before being appointed as Germany's first-ever national manager and selector in 1923. At the time, football was not seen as a major sport in Germany, and German football was seen as considerably inferior to that played by other central European countries such as Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Italy. Nonetheless, under Dr Nerz the team - initially considered one of the weakest in Europe - gradually developed some consistency towards the end of the 1920s and early 1930s. Nerz studied a large number of league and cup games in England, as well as in Austria and Italy, and sought advice on coaching and tactics from internationally-respected coaches such as Jimmy Hogan, Hugo Meisl and Vittorio Pozzo in a quest to improve the standards of the German national team.
Germany did not enter the inaugural World Cup in 1930 in Uruguay, but by the time of the next tournament in 1934, held in Italy, Germany had become a strong side by European standards. In the event, Nerz guided Germany to victories over Belgium and Sweden; a semi-final defeat to Czechoslovakia was followed by a win over the hitherto heavily-fancied Austrians to secure a third-place finish. This would be Germany's best international performance until the 1954 World Cup, and it provided a huge boost to the popularity of the sport in Germany.
Dr Nerz had joined the Nazi Party relatively early, prior to Adolf Hitler gaining power in 1933, and this combined with his success in the World Cup meant that the German government placed a high level of expectation on Nerz' team for the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. However, Germany were eliminated early in the tournament after a shock defeat to rank outsiders Norway. Shortly thereafter, Dr Nerz was relieved of his duties as coach, replaced by Sepp Herberger.
Following his dismissal from the German national job, Dr Nerz took an administrative and coaching position with the football association of Berlin. Due to his Nazi Party membership, he was arrested as a prisoner of war after the Battle of Berlin and later interned in a camp in Sachsenhausen; after four years of imprisonment, Dr Nerz died on or around 18 April 1949 and was buried in a mass grave on the site of the camp.
"Otto Nerz"