Joachim Löw has no plans to become FC Bayern coach. The name of the former national coach is mentioned with great regularity when a European club is looking for a new coach. Löw has been unemployed since summer 2021 and would like to return to the sidelines, but as a national coach. Löw told “Welt TV” that his goal is to coach a national team at the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in Canada, the USA and Mexico. He will be ready for a new task from the summer.
But Bayern are not an issue for him. “There are probably various reasons. A, Bayern are not interested in me personally, probably as a coach and I would also not be interested in Bayern Munich,” said Löw.
Jürgen Klopp, who was immediately considered a candidate, also quickly canceled. Klopp had his agent Marc Kosicke reiterate that he wanted to take a year off after his time at Liverpool.
Löw and Klopp will definitely not be available if Thomas Tuchel leaves the club after the season. It seems realistic that Tuchel will actually stay in office until then after the difficult and narrow 2-1 win over RB Leipzig on Saturday evening.
Nevertheless, the coaching question will accompany the club until a final decision is made, and there will probably be speculation about a few names until then. The question that will play a role is how attractive FC Bayern actually is. The attrition of the coach of the most successful German club has always been great. Recently, however, another factor emerged that could prevent a potential coach from going to Bayern. The question is whether the team can even be coached.
After the win against RB Leipzig, Bayern President Herbert Hainer proved that it was made internally when he said: “The team is not uncoachable.” Tuchel himself had indicated that he was not the only problem that FC Bayern had. He presented a detailed analysis of his work and revealed many things (including a lot of self-criticism).
The question is justified as to what role a rigid team structure and mistakes of the old (Kahn, Salihamidzic) and the new club management (Dreesen, Freund) played in the last crisis. Despite his overwhelming success, Hansi Flick failed because he fell out with sports director Salihamidzic. Nagelsmann and Tuchel changed the team’s personnel and tactics and lost. Coaches don’t have an easy time on Säbener Straße. Carlo Ancelotti and Nico Kovac were also only short-term guests in the coaching bench because in the end they were not accepted by the club and the team.
The high level of coach attrition could become a problem when looking for a new coach. The pool of candidates is naturally not particularly large for a top coaching job. The frequently mentioned Sebastian Hoeneß is hardly an option because Uli Hoeneß’s nephew is simply too young and inexperienced.
The closest circle of candidates definitely includes Xabi Alonso from Bayer Leverkusen, whom they would ideally like to steer to Munich. Alonso has always been considered a future great coach. He was also a professional at Bayern and is currently proving in Leverkusen that he actually has enormous talent. It would also fit so well because Bayern have always bought the best people away from the competition. The method was very successful in two ways: it weakened the opponents and strengthened Bayern.
The good old “two birds with one stone” principle could fail this time. According to Leverkusen club circles, the sought-after coach is said to have doubts as to whether the move to Munich is the right one for his future coaching career. Instead, the Basque favors staying in Leverkusen or moving to Liverpool FC, where Klopp is known to be leaving at the end of the season.
Bayern have to hope that future sports director Max Eberl will bring more continuity and calm to the club. On Monday, Bayern’s supervisory board will confirm the personnel and Eberl will take up his job soon. He’ll have a lot to do. Eberl has to rebuild the team in the summer and find a new coach. Neither will be easy.
Sources: DPA, “tz”, “Kicker”, “Frankfurter Rundschau”, “The Athletic”.
