There is still a lot to be done before the era ends. After 17 years at Red Bull Salzburg, almost a third of his life, Christoph Freund will move to Bayern Munich as sporting director at the beginning of September. Until then, the 46-year-old will complete the squad planning for the Austrians, and he will also announce his upcoming farewell in Salzburg. He decided to take on a new challenge. “The experiences I was able to make will help me in my new job,” says Freund.
His career is special and moving. He played as a midfielder for WSG Wattens and SC Leogang, among others, and played 57 games in the second division of his home country Austria during his career. When his father Gottfried died unexpectedly in 2002, his son Christoph ended his career as a professional soccer player at the age of just 24 to take over the carpentry business in Leogang.
Changes from the Red Bull empire to Bayern – Christoph Freund
Source: dpa/Expa
“A world collapsed for me from one day to the next,” said Freund to “news.at”. But a development has also begun. “At that time I was a soccer player in the second division at Untersiebenbrunn, a 24-year-old boy who basically wasn’t fully alive yet. And suddenly I had to run a company with 20 people.”
The joinery also received orders from Red Bull Salzburg, and those responsible at the club recognized Freund’s football expertise. In 2006 he sold the business to his partner, whom he had brought into the company after the death of his father, and became team manager at the club in Salzburg. He later rose to sports coordinator and then sports director.
First of all, not on the board
Freund Naturholz is still on the market and celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2020. Freund once said in a podcast that he came to talks with Red Bull “by some coincidence”. It’s a very special career in football, a business worth billions. “It was an extreme development that could not have been foreseen or planned,” says Freund. “That’s why I’m primarily grateful to the club. When I came, many didn’t understand that I was giving up my father’s carpentry business. But I followed my heart and jumped at the chance to work in the field I love most.”
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At Bayern, Freund follows sports director Hasan Salihamidzic, from whom the club parted last May. Freund will initially not be on the board, but should have a chance to develop this position. Salihamidzic also rose from sports director to sports director.
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FC Bayern Munich officially presented the two newcomers Konrad Laimer and Raphael Guerreiro in a press conference. Sports reporter Julien Wolff explains exactly how this should pay off for the team.
Source: WELT/ Julien Wolff
With Freund, FC Bayern’s personnel policy is likely to change fundamentally in some cases. The “Süddeutsche Zeitung” aptly states: “FC Bayern’s transfer experts look at the market and see what’s going on. Christoph Freund looks at the market and tries to see what will happen.”
Most recently, Bayern not only bought older players for a lot of money, but always bought older ones: Desired striker Harry Kane (29) from Tottenham Hotspur could cost around a hundred million euros. A year ago, they paid more than 30 million euros to Liverpool FC for the then 30-year-old Sadio Mané, and more than 40 million euros for the (much younger) defender Dayot Upamecano – to RB Leipzig.
Also because of the financial dominance of the English Premier League, it is becoming increasingly difficult for Bayern to get the best “ready” players. In the future there should be more players like Jamal Musiala (20), who come to Bayern at a young age and become stars in Munich. Club president Herbert Hainer said this week that they wanted “to escape the transfer market madness a bit with expertise in the youth and scouting area.” Words that honorary president Uli Hoeneß really like.
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The training at the FC Bayern Campus, the youth center of the German record champions, is to be strengthened. Hoeneß and everyone else at the club have been longing for players from their own youth to become world-class professionals again, like Thomas Müller, David Alaba, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philipp Lahm.
Two weeks ago, Bayern extended Jochen Sauer’s contract. As director of youth development, he is head of the campus. The 50-year-old and his friend know each other from their time together in Salzburg. Sauer will also take over the management of Red&Gold Football, the Munich-based joint venture with the Los Angeles Football Club.
Bavaria’s young boss Jochen Sauer
Source: pa/dpa/Andreas Gebert
FC Bayern would like to develop international talent even better in cooperation with partner clubs. In addition, Bayern recently made former professional Halil Altintop the campus’s sports director. A lot is changing at the moment, both among the professionals and among the talented Bayern players.
In the Freund era, Salzburg produced many top stars and Bundesliga players: including Erling Haaland, Karim Adeyemi, Konrad Laimer, Dominik Szoboszlai, Mané and Upamecano. He learned a lot from Ralf Rangnick. He also worked with Marco Rose, now coach of RB Leipzig.
“Great person and absolute professional”
“I can only congratulate FC Bayern. You’re getting a great human being and a total professional who’s going to do it well, I’m absolutely sure of that,” Rose said. “Christoph Freund is a friend of mine. Even though I’ve been away from Salzburg for a few years, we’re in contact almost every week.” And Bayern coach Tuchel said: “If you’re signed by FC Bayern, there’s also something on your business card.”
Lothar Matthäus is also sure that Christoph Freund is up to the task. “I know him, he is a very meticulous and conscientious, hardworking and reserved top man in the industry. I think he can Bayern,” said the record national player on Sky. The “Salzburger Nachrichten” write: “Friend is the bitterest departure in the Bull era.”
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Bavaria’s new CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen is looking forward to Freund – and has expectations of Sauer and the campus. “The FC Bayern Campus is a central component of our planning, and we are aiming for even closer networking and greater permeability here in the future,” says the successor to the sacked Oliver Kahn. “We want even more talented FC Bayern players to make the leap into professional football – ideally with us, of course.”
Marco Neppe will work alongside Freund in the future. The technical director was Salihamidzic’s “right hand man” and his future from September seemed unclear for a long time. The 37-year-old will now stay at Bayern.
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