So no coach wants to go to FC Bayern anymore? The German record champions were once again duped in their search for a coach and were also unable to lure Ralf Rangnick to Munich. The 65-year-old surprisingly prefers remaining as team boss of Austria’s national team to the job on Säbener Straße.
After the rejection from Vienna, Bayern are slowly left with only compromise candidates who will succeed Thomas Tuchel in the summer. Rangnick was only the third choice for the long-standing German football leader, where the extremely difficult search for a coach overshadowed even the sporting highlight with the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.
“I am the Austrian team boss with all my heart. This task gives me incredible joy and I am determined to successfully continue on our chosen path,” said Rangnick in the statement from the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB).
As the German Press Agency learned, Rangnick canceled Bayern on Wednesday evening – although a comprehensive agreement had actually been reached at the beginning of the week. The astonishment in Munich was correspondingly great.
Austria celebrates “football fairy tale”
The ÖFB was pleased to announce that it would be keeping its successful coach beyond the European Championships in the summer – Rangnick has a contract in Austria until the 2026 World Cup, should the Alpine republic qualify. “We are extremely happy with his decision. We understood that he had two very attractive options and gave him time to consider everything calmly. We are proud that he chose Austria,” said ÖFB sports director Peter Schöttel.
The pride goes beyond the association. “YES! Ralf Rangnick remains loyal to our ÖFB team,” was the headline in the “Kronen” newspaper immediately after the announcement. “Today” wrote about a “football sensation,” and “Kurier” exulted: “If this isn’t a football fairy tale, then what is? The European Championship can definitely come.”
In the past few days, Bayern had tried in vain to convince the former Bundesliga coach of Stuttgart, Hannover, Schalke, Hoffenheim and Leipzig. On Tuesday evening after the Champions League game against Real Madrid (2:2), the Munich club bosses sounded optimistic, spoke of good negotiations and indicated that Rangnick would make a decision shortly. A day later, the coach searchers around sports director Max Eberl were disillusioned.
Hoeneß-Vortex in the middle of the convincing phase
“I would like to expressly emphasize that this is not a rejection of FC Bayern, but a decision for my team and our common goals,” Rangnick was quoted as saying in the statement. “Our full concentration is on the European Championships. We will do everything we can to get as far as possible there.”
There is speculation as to what ultimately tipped the scales for the Swabian’s decision. Recently, some experts and ex-professionals had doubts as to whether Rangnick would even be a good fit for FC Bayern. On Säbener Strasse, in addition to the full-time bosses around Eberl, CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen and sports director Christoph Freund, grandees such as club patron Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge also have a say as powerful supervisory board members.
Last week, for example, Hoeneß confirmed at a panel discussion that the Munich team only asked Rangnick after Leverkusen’s master coach Xabi Alonso and national coach Julian Nagelsmann had turned them down. It couldn’t be made clearer that you are only third choice. When Hoeneß harshly criticized the current coach Thomas Tuchel and, despite the ensuing uproar, emphasized that he was “determined” to continue to express his opinion in the future, Rangnick also got a foretaste of the working conditions to be expected in Munich.
And who is the D solution now?
After the rejections of Alonso, Nagelsmann and Rangnick, the focus is now likely to be on candidates who recently seemed to have already been written off. Among them was Roberto De Zerbi from the English club Brighton & Hove Albion, former world footballer Zinédine Zidane and the former Real Madrid and Spain coach Julen Lopetegui.
The fact that these three coaches don’t speak any German – Zidane barely speaks any English – is actually an exclusion criterion for the prestigious job at FC Bayern. However, the profile may have to be adjusted with every week that passes without a new coach until the summer break.