German champions Bayern to part ways with coach Tuchel at end of season | Football News
Struggling German champions will take ‘new direction’ with a different coach next season, club says after announcing Tuchel’s departure.
German club Bayern Munich will part ways with coach Thomas Tuchel at the end of a disappointing season, the Bundesliga champions have said in a statement.
Tuchel’s contract, which was signed less than a year ago and runs until 2025, will be terminated at the end of the current season.
Bayern lost their last three games in all competitions, including a 3-0 defeat to league leaders Bayer Leverkusen and have now dropped eight points behind them in the Bundesliga.
Tuchel had taken over in March 2023 from Julian Nagelsmann but despite leading them to the Bundesliga title last season on the final matchday, they have not shown the form this season that saw them dominate German football for the past decade.
Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said there would a “a new direction” next season with a new coach.
“In a good, open discussion, we came to the decision to end our working relationship by mutual agreement in the summer,” Dreesen said on Wednesday.
“Our goal is to pursue a new footballing direction with a new head coach for the 2024/25 season.”
“Until then, every individual at the club is expressly called upon to achieve the maximum possible in the Champions League and Bundesliga. I also explicitly hold the team accountable in this regard.”
New direction for the new season: FC Bayern and Thomas Tuchel to end their working relationship in the summer.
🔗 https://t.co/nKsSeKx3kk pic.twitter.com/1q22LRSMcy
— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) February 21, 2024
Tuchel, who in the past had been in charge at Borussia Dortmund and Paris St Germain, and also won a Champions League title with Chelsea in 2021, said his remaining time in Munich would be focused on the remaining goals in the Bundelsiga and the Champions League.
His first full season at Bayern had been hit by a string of injuries to key players and by what he had said was a relatively thin squad at the start of the campaign despite the arrival of Bundesliga record signing Harry Kane.
“We have agreed that we will end our working relationship at the end of this season,” Tuchel said. “Until then, I will of course continue to do everything I can with my coaching staff to achieve maximum success.”
Bayern’s next game is against RB Leipzig who beat Bayern the last two times in Munich.
The club’s last season without a title was in 2011-12. They have won all 11 Bundesliga titles since then, four German Cups, and two Champions Leagues to clinch trebles in 2013 and 2020.
Now they trail Leverkusen by eight points, were beaten in the German Cup by a third-division side and have to overcome the deficit against Lazio to stay alive in Europe.
Leverkusen are coached by Xabi Alonso who as a former Bayern player could be a top candidate for them in summer. But he is also linked with another ex-club, Liverpool, where Jurgen Klopp is leaving in summer.
Klopp, for his part, has been seen as a future Bayern coach but said he wants to take time off after leaving Anfield.
