German Bundesliga
giants Bayern Munich have handed coach Hansi Flick a new contract keeping him
at the club until 2023, the club announced Friday.
“Bayern are
very happy with Hansi Flick’s work. The team has developed well under him and
are playing attractive football,” said club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in a
statement.
Flick, a former
assistant to Germany coach Joachim Loew, took the reins at Bayern in November
after his predecessor Niko Kovac was sacked.
Initially hired
as an interim solution, the 55-year-old led Bayern from fourth back to the top
of the table, and was rewarded with a contract until the end of this season.
With 18 wins in
21 competitive matches at the helm, Flick put Bayern on course for a
record-extending eighth successive Bundesliga title before the season was
interrupted by the coronavirus crisis.
“Football is
facing big challenges. We believe that Hansi is the right head coach for these
times,” said sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic.
Rummenigge,
meanwhile, praised Flick’s “human qualities” and “empathy”.
Bayern is Flick’s
first job as head coach in top-flight club football.
Despite his
relative inexperience at club level, the coach has proven popular with senior
Bayern players who had grown increasingly frustrated under Kovac.
Former Germany
international Thomas Mueller, in particular, has flourished under the new
leadership, having previously worked with Flick on the national team.
Flick was
right-hand man to Germany boss Loew for eight years from 2006, helping to lead
his country to at least the semi-finals of five consecutive major
tournaments.
After Germany won
the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, Flick became sporting director of the German
Football Association, but stepped down from the role in 2017.
A midfielder for
Bayern in his playing days, he returned to Munich as part of Kovac’s coaching
staff in July last year.
He
took full control in November after the Croatian’s unhappy spell in charge
ended with a 5-1 defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt, leaving Bayern four points off
the top.
