“Decisive figure” for Kahn
Bayern boss pays tribute to deceased Rainer Ulrich
01/10/2023, 3:25 p.m
Oliver Kahn mourns the loss of his former coach – and pays tribute to him with great words. Rainer Ulrich, who died on Monday at the age of 72, was a “decisive figure” for his own career. Ex-coach Ulrich had promoted numerous future professionals at Bayern Munich.
Bayern Munich CEO Oliver Kahn described the deceased former coach Rainer Ulrich as a “decisive figure” at the beginning of his own football career. “He shaped generations of young footballers. His work, his commitment and his numerous tips have made many great careers possible. We are all eternally grateful to Rainer Ulrich and will never forget him,” said Kahn in recognition of the former coach of Bayern Munich’s amateurs.
Former Bundesliga professional Ulrich died at the age of 73, as a spokesman for his former club Karlsruher SC confirmed on Monday evening with reference to Ulrich’s family. “We express our heartfelt condolences to all of Rainer Ulrich’s relatives and will keep him and his services to KSC in honorable memory,” the club wrote in a statement. The native of Mannheim, who also played for the local VfR, made 273 competitive appearances for KSC.
From 1995 to 1998 Ulrich was the coach of the amateurs of the German record champions, after which he was drawn back to KSC, which had just been relegated, where he replaced Jörg Berger, but just missed being promoted again. Under his successor Joachim Löw, Karlsruhe were relegated to the regional league at the end of the 1999/2000 season. Ulrich meanwhile returned to Munich in 2009 after a few engagements at other clubs to work there as an assistant coach for the FCB amateurs until 2018.
Bayern emphasized in a statement that Ulrich had formed many talents at FC Bayern – “from Sammy Kuffour, Dietmar Hamann and Alexander Zickler to David Alaba, Emre Can and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg – and at the beginning of his coaching career he promoted as a amateur coach at Karlsruher SC also the young goalkeeper Oliver Kahn”.