It’s now official. Hansi Flick, Bayern Munich’s coach until this season, has signed a three-year contract to lead the German squad after Euro this summer, succeeding Joachim Löw.
“Hansi Flick will be the new national team coach. The 56-year-old coach today signed a contract at the headquarters of the German Football Association in Frankfurt until 2024, which also includes the duration of the European Championship at home ”, announced Tuesday, May 25 the German Football Association (or DFB, for Deutscher Fussball-Bund, in German) in a communicated.
This appointment had been expected for several weeks and left little doubt, as Flick seemed the ideal successor to Joachim Löw who, after fifteen years at the head of the Mannschaft, had announced in March that he wanted to quit after the Euro in June.
“I am very impatient, because I see the class of players, especially young German players. We therefore have every reason to approach the tournaments to come, for example the European Championship at home in 2024, with optimism ”, rejoiced Hansi Flick, native like Löw of Baden-Württemberg.
“I know and appreciate the human and professional qualities of Hansi Flick since the many successful years we have spent together in the national team. (…) It was important for me to have a clear idea before the start of the European Championship. We have a great common goal: to return to the top of the world ”, welcomed Oliver Bierhoff, director of the DFB.
Prolific coach for Bayern
Arriving on the Bayern bench in 2019, he is one of the most prolific coaches in the club’s history with seven titles won, including two championships and a Champions League (2020).
However, in conflict with sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic over recruitment policy, Flick had requested the termination of his contract, which was to run until 2023, at the end of the season.
On Saturday Hansi Flick thanked Bayern Munich, where he played as a midfielder between 1985 and 1990: “I am extremely proud of the way my period [sur le banc du Bayern] took place. We have lived intense and crazy moments ”, said the one who allowed the Bavarians to win their 9e national title in a row. Bayern have already announced their replacement for next season in the person of the young prodigy Julian Nagelsmann, 33 years old and current coach of Leipzig.