Bayern Munich and head coach Thomas Tuchel will part ways at the end of the season.
The decision comes after the 50-year-old’s side fell to a 3-2 loss at Bochum in the Bundesliga on Sunday.
Bayern, who have won 11 league titles in a row, are eight points behind Bayer Leverkusen and lost 3-0 to Xabi Alonso’s league leaders earlier this month.
The Athletic reported earlier this week that Alonso is one of those being considered for the position in the summer.
Alonso is wanted by Liverpool and Bayern – which club are the better bet?
The club say an “amicable conversation” took place to “end the collaboration” with Tuchel’s contract set to expire in June.
CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said: “In an open, good conversation we came to the decision to mutually end our collaboration in the summer. Our goal is to carry out a sporting realignment with a new coach for the 2024/25 season.
“Until then, every individual in the club is expressly challenged to achieve the maximum possible in the Champions League and the Bundesliga. I also explicitly hold the team responsible.
“Especially in the Champions League, we are convinced that after the 0-1 defeat in the first leg at Lazio, we will advance to the quarter-finals in the second leg in our fully occupied Allianz Arena with our fans behind us.”
Tuchel said: “We have agreed that we will end our collaboration after this season. Until then, I and my coaching team will of course continue to do everything we can to ensure maximum success.”
Former Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea boss Tuchel was appointed as Bayern’s head coach in March 2023, replacing current Germany national team manager Julian Nagelsmann.
He secured the first German league title of his career on the final day of the 2022-23 campaign, with Bayern defeating Cologne 2-1 and rivals Dortmund slipping up with a 2-2 draw against Mainz.
This season, Tuchel successfully guided Bayern to the Champions League knockout stages, having topped Group A above Copenhagen, Galatasaray and Manchester United.
Bayern have struggled domestically, however, losing the Supercup to RB Leipzig in August and going out in the second round of the DFB Pokal to third tier Saarbrucken in November.
Defeat to Bochum was a fourth of the season in the league and seventh overall.
Tuchel has won 22 of Bayern’s 32 matches played across all competitions this campaign.
Bayern are next in action against RB Leipzig on Saturday.
Why Bayern and Tuchel made this decision
Maybe Tuchel is simply unlucky to have arrived at the inevitable sunset of a historic period of dominance. Bayern were already poor enough not to win the league last season, but somehow fluked another championship when Dortmund threw it all away with a draw at home against Mainz on the final day.
This season, they are objectively a better side than that one — defensively more stable and more efficient up front, courtesy of new signing Harry Kane (25 goals and counting in the league) — but still prone to mystifyingly bad off-days that threaten to end their 2023-24 quest for trophies with three months of football still to play.
Internally, there’s talk of too many big, well-paid personalities having lost their hunger. But every single player has lost form and confidence in recent weeks, which brings Tuchel’s role into sharp relief once more.
He hasn’t been able to strike up much of a bond with a majority of players after implicitly questioning their credentials on many occasions. “He’s undermined everybody,” a senior member of Bayern’s leadership told The Athletic, on condition of anonymity due to the volatility of the situation at the club.
As countless managers have found before him, tactical proficiency counts for little if you can’t keep the dressing room on your side.
The Athletic
