FC Bayern Munich and the Austrian Christoph Freund have arranged the successor for sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić. The 46-year-old comes from Red Bull Salzburg and, as sporting director, will in future be responsible for the transfer business of the German record champions. The people of Munich made the personnel decision official on Tuesday afternoon after several media had previously reported unanimously. Freund, who has built an excellent reputation for himself in more than a decade and a half at Red Bull, will take up his new post on September 1st.
FC Bayern is the first stop in the Bundesliga for the Austrian. “I’m really looking forward to doing everything with full energy and passion from September 1st to ensure that this club remains so successful in the future, continues to play at the top international level and inspires its fans with attractive football,” he said native of Salzburg.
Freund should “further strengthen Bayern”
Freund has been working as a sports director for Salzburg since 2015, before that he worked there as a team manager. A year ago he was courted by top English club Chelsea. At that time, however, the manager decided to remain in the city of Mozart. He still had a contract with the Austrian champions until the summer of 2026. “We are convinced that he is the right person to continue to strengthen the team together with the coaching team around Thomas Tuchel and Technical Director Marco Neppe,” said CEO Jan- Christian Dreesen.
On the turbulent championship weekend at the end of May, the Munich team parted ways with CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Salihamidžić. Long-time CFO Dreesen succeeded Kahn, and the successor to Salihamidžić was clarified surprisingly quickly. The Christmas deadline envisaged by the club’s management is well below. In the past few weeks there has been repeated speculation about Markus Krösche from Eintracht Frankfurt or Max Eberl from RB Leipzig. Like Salihamidžić when he was signed in the summer of 2017, Freund is initially not a member of the board.
Uli Hoeneß (right) in conversation with Hasan Salihamidžić at the end of May : Photo: dpa
Freund and his team in Salzburg have repeatedly managed to develop talented youngsters into big climbers and sell them with considerable transfer profits. The most prominent example is Erling Haaland, who has had a brilliant career from Salzburg to Borussia Dortmund to Champions League winners Manchester City. The later Liverpool and current Bayern professional Sadio Mané or BVB national player Karim Adeyemi also come from the RB talent factory.
Freund’s successes as a sports official clearly overshadowed his achievements as an active soccer player. The Austrian played as a midfielder in various clubs in his home country, including WSG Wattens and SV Grödig. Freund played a total of 57 games in the second division, but he never made it into the top division.
Freund’s commitment could also make it easier for the players from the FC Bayern Campus to make it to the professional level. Honorary President Uli Hoeneß has been hoping for a long time that new young stars like Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger or Thomas Müller will come from there. Junior manager Jochen Sauer and Freund know each other from their time together in Salzburg. Most recently, Munich had extended the contract with Sauer.
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After 50 days in office, the new CEO Dreesen held back on the sports director question on Monday. The Munich team deliberately avoided a quick shot in the managerial staff because they are taking a different path in the current transfer phase. Harry Kane, for example, is said to be brought to Bayern from Tottenham Hotspur without sporting director Freund.
According to Hoeneß, the top-class transfer task force was born out of “necessity”, with which the Munich team want to have success not only with Kane but also with Min-jae Kim (SSC Napoli) and Kyle Walker (Manchester City). There are seven people in the group. The core work is “on an almost daily basis”, according to coach Tuchel, with him, Dreesen and the technical director Neppe. To do this, use the “passion, lifeblood and expertise” of the larger circle. In addition to Hoeneß and former boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, this includes President Herbert Hainer and the new CFO Michael Diederich. According to Sky information, the deal with Freund is said to have been a top-secret mission by Rummenigge, Hoeneß and Dreesen. Accordingly, not even all members of the Supervisory Board were privy to the personnel decision from the start. Nothing leaked out until Tuesday.
