No chance for FC Bayern
“The sting is still deep” at Nagelsmann
April 20, 2024, 7:03 p.m
Julian Nagelsmann will not be the coach of FC Bayern Munich, but will stay with the DFB. This is a defeat for the German record champions. Apparently the memory of the inglorious end is still too fresh.
“At some point,” said Max Eberl, FC Bayern Munich’s sports director, at the beginning of April, “white smoke will rise” and the German soccer record champions will announce a successor to outgoing coach Thomas Tuchel. It seemed increasingly likely that the new coach would also be an old one: namely Julian Nagelsmann, who was kicked out by the record champions in March 2023 and then hired as national coach at the DFB.
Nagelsmann’s camp made it public that there had been discussions. But then the news suddenly came on Friday: Julian Nagelsmann remains the national coach, he has extended his contract until the 2026 World Cup. And FC Bayern has to keep looking. Now Eberl explains why they didn’t get together a second time.
A crucial reason for Eberl was the nature of the separation from Nagelsmann in March 2023. “We spoke to Julian. At some point we realized that the sting from back then was still deep, the separation was too recent,” said Eberl. FC Bayern brought Nagelsmann to Munich from RB Leipzig for a record fee in the summer of 2021, and together they won the championship in 2022.
“Still keeps me busy today”
But in the spring of 2023 it was over again: Nagelsmann found out about his dismissal from the media when he was skiing on a day off and couldn’t be reached by those responsible – according to FC Bayern’s account. Nagelsmann was dismissed so unelegantly by those in charge at the time – sports director Hasan Salihamidžić and CEO Oliver Kahn – that even Kahn recently admitted that he found it very bad how this decision was then implemented. “That didn’t go well, and that still bothers me today.”
Eberl did not want to describe Nagelsmann’s decision to lead the German national team not only to the home European Championships in June and July, but also to the 2026 World Cup in North America as a “cancellation, he has chosen the DFB. I am happy for the German Football”. Nagelsmann’s decision to join the DFB probably also had something to do with the mood at FC Bayern, said Lothar Matthäus on Sky: “Not everyone at Julian was united behind the idea. And he probably knew that.”