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The coaching earthquake at FC Bayern is now official. Bayern Munich parted ways with Julian Nagelsmann before the top game against Borussia Dortmund. Former BVB coach Thomas Tuchel takes over the team. The club didn’t want to lose him to another club again.
JUlian Nagelsmann is no longer the coach of FC Bayern Munich. After 21 months in office, the 35-year-old was relieved of his duties. What a number of media reported on Thursday evening was then made official by the record champions in a statement on Friday evening.
The new coach will be Thomas Tuchel, who was fired from Chelsea in the fall. The 49-year-old signed a contract that runs until the summer of 2025 and will start next Saturday with the biggest game the Bundesliga has to offer. On April 1 (6.30 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker), Bayern, who are in second place, will welcome the leaders from Dortmund.
“When we signed Julian Nagelsmann for FC Bayern in the summer of 2021, we were convinced that we would work with him on a long-term basis – and that was the goal of all of us right up to the end. Julian shares our aspiration to play successful and attractive football,” said Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn: “Now we have come to the realization that the quality of our squad – despite the German championship last year – has shown itself less and less. After the World Cup we played less and less successfully and attractively, the strong fluctuations in performance called our goals into question this season, but also beyond this season. That is why we have now reacted.”
Kahn and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic came to the personnel decision in coordination with President Herbert Hainer, it said. On Monday, Tuchel will lead Munich’s training for the first time. The club was obviously surprised that the spectacular coaching decision had become public through external channels late Thursday evening. The internationally well-connected transfer expert Fabrizio Romano had first reported that Munich was considering separating from Nagelsmann. BILD reported this as fixed late in the evening. Almost a day passed before the official confirmation.
Development since January was not enough for Salihamidzic
Even though the German record champions slipped to second place in the Bundesliga after the 2-1 defeat in Leverkusen, the timing of Nagelsmann’s separation surprised many. After all, in addition to the BVB summit, there are also knockout duels with SC Freiburg in the DFB Cup and Manchester City in the premier class, but this is due to the current overall constellation. Changing coaches is always a question of alternatives. Tuchel was on the market – and in demand internationally. He was also said to be a candidate at Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur. Either now or not again, could have been the question in the Bayern calculation.
According to reports, the Bayern bosses did not see any sustainable development despite a top squad. That’s why they ended the planned long-term project with Nagelsmann, who actually had a contract until June 30, 2026, prematurely. With him, the assistant coaches Dino Toppmöller, Benjamin Glück and Xaver Zembrod will also be released. Nagelsmann, who was still skiing in Austria this week, drove out of the underground car park in his dark company car shortly after 4:00 p.m. without saying goodbye. The farewell talk lasted about an hour.
Sports director Hasan Salihamidzic spoke of the “most difficult decision in my time as a sports manager at FC Bayern”. He had an open, trusting, friendly relationship with Nagelsmann from day one. I regret the separation from Julian. But after a thorough analysis of the sporting development of our team, especially since January and with the experience of the second half of the previous season, we have now jointly decided to release Julian.”
In addition to the sporty dampers, there were too many secondary events around Nagelsmann. For example, the replacement of Toni Tapalovic, a friend of Manuel Neuer, as goalkeeper coach, which he promoted, caused a stir. With a relationship with BILD reporter Lena Wurzenberger, he made himself vulnerable internally. Incidentally, it is not new that successes at FC Bayern do not protect against separations. On the way to the Uefa Cup title in 1996, Otto Rehhagel once had to leave after reaching the final. With Franz Beckenbauer as interim coach, Bayern won the European Cup in the final.
In 2018, however, Tuchel was already a hot candidate for the coaching position at Bayern. But Munich hesitated too long for Tuchel. He went to Paris St. Germain, Bayern finally hired Niko Kovac. DFB sporting director Rudi Völler welcomed the fact that FC Bayern is counting on Tuchel as Nagelsmann’s successor. He is a “top alternative,” said Völler to the TV station ProSieben Maxx.