FC Bayern officially announced on Tuesday that they would install Austrian Christoph Freund as the new sporting director. A personality that came as a surprise to many. Due to his references from the last few years at Red Bull Salzburg, long-time Bayern player Lothar Matthäus considers the choice to be a wise decision by the club bosses from Munich.
“I trust Christoph Freund to be sporting director at Bayern. I know him, he is a very meticulous and conscientious, hard-working and reserved top man in the industry,” said the German record national player to “Sky”.
Freund had worked as sports director for the Red Bulls from Austria for eight years and had entered the Champions League with the club for the first time. He was responsible for signing several youngsters who then developed into international top stars – including Erling Haaland, Karim Adeyemi and Dayot Upamecano.
Matthäus believes the new sports director has a similarly strong sense of future top talent at the German industry leader, where he will start his new job on September 1st.
“Christoph Freund has a great network and you could see what he achieved in Austria at Salzburg. I think he can do Bavaria,” said the 61-year-old.
Freund won championships every year as sports director
Matthäus, who himself was German champion seven times with Munich, pointed out the difference in size between FC Bayern and the Red Bulls from Salzburg: “This is now Bayern Munich, Champions League, top shelf and therefore one size larger than Salzburg. It’s not all as familiar here as it used to be in Austria, where all journalists regularly sit comfortably together at the table.”
Freund has been working for FC Red Bull Salzburg since 2006, first as a team manager (2006 to 2012) and later as a sports coordinator (2012 to 2015), before he worked as sports director for the last few years. During this time, Salzburg was Austrian champion every year.