Thomas Tuchel to leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season: club | football news

Bayern Munich said on Wednesday they will part ways with manager Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season, as the reigning German champions struggle to stay in the Bundesliga title race. “We have reached a mutual decision to end our cooperation in the summer,” Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Driessen said in a statement after talks with Tuchel. The coach, whose contract was due to run till 2025, will leave the club on June 30 this year. “Until then, I and my coaching team will continue to do everything possible to ensure maximum success,” Tuchel said in a statement.

CEO Driessen said Bayern would look for a “new playing direction” under a new coach next season.

Tuchel’s preemptive dismissal comes after three consecutive defeats, including a painful 3-0 defeat to league rival Bayer Leverkusen.

With 12 games left in the season, Bayern sit eight points behind Xabi Alonso’s side, who are yet to lose during the campaign.

Leverkusen is on a historic 32-game unbeaten streak in all competitions, equaling the record set by Hansi Flick’s Bayern in the 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons.

After the defeat to Leverkusen, Bayern suffered a 1–0 defeat against Italian team Lazio in the round of 16 of the Champions League and an embarrassing 3–2 defeat to Bochum in the league.

Tuchel suffered a similar fate to his predecessor Julian Nagelsmann, who was fired in March last year with the perennial German champions finishing second in the league.

Bayern bosses sought to appoint highly-rated Tuchel as their coach after he was sacked from Chelsea at the end of 2022.

The new man was given a brief to save Bayern’s season and compete in all competitions domestically and in Europe.

His tenure got off to a poor start, with Bayern being knocked out of the domestic cup by Freiburg at the quarter-final stage.

Bayern were subsequently knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals by Manchester City and were relegated to the end of the league season.

A 3–1 defeat to Leipzig left them in second place behind Borussia Dortmund on the final day of the Bundesliga season.

Only one mistake from Dortmund, a 2–2 draw with Mainz, allowed the Bavarian giants to win their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title.

Bayern went into this season as favorites to make it a dozen consecutive Bundesliga trophies.

The signing of English marksman Harry Kane from Tottenham Hotspur crowned Bayern’s summer business.

But despite Kane leading the league with 25 goals, Bayern have faltered in the league and were sensationally knocked out of the German Cup race by third division side Saarbrucken.

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