Bayern Munich Revamps Leadership with New Sports Director, Max Eberl, Amidst Season Woes
In a strategic move aimed at revitalizing its footballing prowess, Bayern Munich has appointed Max Eberl as its new sports director.
The 50-year-old Max Eberl signed a contract with the Bavarian powerhouse on Monday that runs through June 2027, starting on Friday.
Afraid of going without a major trophy for the first time in 12 years, Bayern Munich named Max Eberl their new sporting director in order to implement a significant overhaul. Starting on Friday, the 50-year-old Eberl will play on a deal that runs through June 2027, the Bavarian powerhouse announced on Monday. Along with club president Herbert Hainer and chief executive Jan-Christian Dreesen, he was scheduled to make an appearance at a press conference on Tuesday.
Eberl will be tasked with reviving a team that no longer exudes the certain conviction that it was the finest in Germany and has lost its air of dominance.
Hainer stated, “Not only does he have decades of experience managing football teams, but he began playing football at FC Bayern and turned pro here.” “We have no doubts that he will successfully found this club and mold its future.”
Former right back Eberl played just once for Bayern in the Bundesliga, in October 1991, going off as a substitute in a 3-2 loss to Stuttgart at halftime.
After spending three and a half seasons with Greuther Furth, he moved to Bochum in January 1994 and began a 23-year tenure with Borussia Monchengladbach.
Eberl’s purported lack of dedication to Leipzig was probably caused by rumors that he was interested in joining Bayern, who had long appreciated his managerial work at Gladbach. Before Hasan Salihamidzic was named sporting director of Bayern in 2017, Eberl was already a target for the team.
Salihamidzic and Oliver Kahn, the chief executive, were sacked by Bayern shortly after the team won the league title in the previous campaign. The issues that Eberl will be asked to resolve cost both men dearly.
The only reason Bayern won the Bundesliga the previous season was due to Borussia Dortmund’s disastrous final-day play. After a season where the team’s collapse was evident, the decision to fire Kahn and Salihamidzic was made early.
Jan-Christian Dreesen, the former chief financial officer, assumed leadership as CEO, while Bayern recruited Christoph Freund, the former sports director of Salzburg, to succeed Salihamidzic. Freund joined the team on September 1st, but he wasn’t active in the summer transfer market.
Eberl and Freund will be expected to collaborate, with the selection of a new coach being the top priority after Bayern decided not to renew their contract with Thomas Tuchel for the upcoming season after the squad suffered three straight losses.
Tuchel stated on Friday that his employers couldn’t refute him over the weekend and that he wasn’t Bayern’s “only problem.”
“We all have to question ourselves if FC Bayern loses three straight times; the team, the coach, and we in management, we do it as well, it’s not in question at all,” Hainer stated on Saturday. “However, as you will observe, we will make the appropriate deductions and conclusions and act appropriately.”
When asked why Bayern had gone through three highly respected German coaches since 2021—Tuche, Julian Nagelsmann, and Hansi Flick—Hainer responded that there was always pressure to perform well at Bayern.
“However, I think that ultimately, the key to success at FC Bayern is that we never settle for where we are and instead, we keep pushing forward,” Hainer stated.
The frontrunner to succeed Tuchel is Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso, a former Bayern player, though Sebastian Hoeneß of Stuttgart and former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane have also been mentioned. The latter, who prevented Stuttgart from being relegated the previous season, is the nephew of Uli Hoeneß, the honorary president of Bayern. He has guided Stuttgart to third place in the Bundesliga.
Hainer stated that the Bayern team is “not un-coachable,” putting the responsibility for success on the next coach. From the beginning, Eberl will be under pressure.
