From BZ/dpa
Despite winning the championship title again, FC Bayern Munich is taking personal action after an extremely troubled and unsatisfactory season. CEO Oliver Kahn (53) and sports director Hasan Salihamidzic (46) are released from their duties at the German record champions. This was reported on Saturday after Munich’s 2-1 draw in Cologne, BILD and the “kicker”.
Club President Herbert Hainer confirmed the reports on Saturday evening. “It was incredibly important for us to only announce that after the game because we always said we wanted to concentrate 100 percent on the sport,” said Hainer after the win, which secured Bayern’s eleventh championship in a row. “As you can see, it worked. We have now told the team.”
Originally, future decisions were only expected at the Supervisory Board meeting, which was postponed to next Tuesday. However, there is said to have been an extraordinary meeting of the committee around Honorary President Uli Hoeneß beforehand.
Hasan Salihamidzic on Saturday in Cologne alongside President Herbert Hainer. Oliver Kahn was not in the stadium Photo: REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen
Jan-Christian Dreesen (55) is to succeed Kahn. The chief financial officer should actually leave the club shortly. Kahn was already absent from the Cologne stadium on Saturday, club circles cited flu as the reason. On Twitter, however, Kahn sounded different (see below). Accordingly, the club prohibited him from traveling to Cologne.
FC Bayern has had a very troubled season in which the most expensive squad failed to achieve any sporting successes. Timing, handling and communication of the change of coach from Julian Nagelsmann to Thomas Tuchel, which took place two months ago, caused internal and external debates. Kahn and Salihamidzic did not give a good picture. Tuchel had only warned on Friday that the club premises on Säbener Straße in Munich had to become a “resting place” for the team again.
Expert Didi Hamann reacted to the news in the Sky studio. And had a clear opinion: “Then I have to ask myself which people are responsible. Hasan Salihamidzic and Oliver Kahn didn’t deserve that. You can think what you want about the work of the two, but these are two well-deserved players and officials too. Going through that a minute or five minutes later after winning the championship is undignified. And if Bayern think that if a Kahn is gone and a Salihamidzic that things will get better, then they will take a look. Because what they did today cannot be surpassed in terms of disrespect.”
Hasan Salihamidzic reacted with disappointment and regret to his departure from FC Bayern. “Of course I would have liked to have continued because I really wanted to win the Champions League again with this team. It’s a really good team. It’s not an easy situation for me today, either emotionally,” said the 46-year-old after the 2-1 win at 1. FC Köln.
Salihamidzic drew a positive conclusion from his time in Munich. “I learned a lot. FC Bayern is something special, a club that will always be successful. That’s why I’m very proud of the time,” he said. In his view, the current team is “the best in Europe”. Even if the team had “a bit of a problem” at the end of the season, he was convinced of the team: “The work was very good. I believe in the team, they will win the Champions League in the next few years.”
The former national goalkeeper and Bayern captain Kahn returned to FC Bayern in early 2020. He became a board member on a five-year contract. Two years ago, he replaced the longstanding CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Salihamidzic was also a successful Bayern professional. In 2017 he surprisingly became sports director, three years later he was promoted to sports director.