BERLIN (AP) — Jupp Heynckes is back at Bayern Munich. The 72-year-old Heynckes, who led the club to a Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble before retiring in 2013, will take over on Monday until the end of the
BERLIN (AP) — Jupp Heynckes is back at Bayern Munich.
The 72-year-old Heynckes, who led the club to a Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup treble before retiring in 2013, will take over on Monday until the end of the season, Bayern said Friday.
It will be his fourth time coaching Bayern.
“There is a great deal of trust between Jupp Heynckes and Bayern,” club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. “This has been shown again by the conversations that (president) Uli Hoeness, (sporting director) Hasan Salihamidzic and I have held. We are very grateful to Jupp for agreeing to be our head coach. He is the ideal coach for Bayern at the moment.”
Previous coach Carlo Ancelotti was fired after 14 months in charge on Sept. 28 following Bayern’s 3-0 loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Despite winning the Bundesliga in his first season, Ancelotti was on shaky ground after a poor start to the league this season. Bayern is already five points behind leader Borussia Dortmund after seven matches.
“Heynckes is a master of leadership and tactics,” Salihamidzic said. “We are convinced that he is exactly the right man to lead the team from the current situation back to success to achieve our goals.”
Heynckes will be assisted once again by Peter Hermann and Hermann Gerland. His appointment had been delayed while Bayern waited for Hermann to be released by second-division club Fortuna Duesseldorf, where he was a coach.
Hermann worked with Heynckes for two seasons at Bayer Leverkusen and then another two at Bayern before both signed off with the treble in 2013. He said the decision to leave Duesseldorf was “very difficult.”
“But I have a bond with Jupp Heynckes and I want to do him the favor,” Hermann said. “I owe him a lot and want to give him something back.”
Gerland, who had stayed on as assistant coach after Heynckes’ departure in 2013, was most recently in charge of Bayern’s youth academy, where he is due to return at the end of the season.
“I would not have returned to any other club in the world, but Bayern Munich is an affair of the heart for me,” Heynckes said. “My training team and I will now do everything for the team to present successful soccer to the fans again. I’m really looking forward to this task.”
Heynckes was a prolific forward during Borussia Moenchengladbach’s golden era in the 1960s and 70s, when he also represented West Germany, winning the European Championship in 1972 and the World Cup two years later.
After his retirement as a player, Heynckes’ coaching career began at Moenchengladbach in 1979, first as assistant, then as head coach for eight seasons before his first stint at Bayern from 1987-91, when he led the team to two Bundesliga titles.
Work in Spain followed, at Athletic Bilbao, Tenerife and Real Madrid, where he won the Champions League in 1997. After further spells at Benfica, Bilbao again, then Schalke and Moenchengladbach again, he returned to Bayern in a caretaker role in 2009 to replace Jurgen Klinsmann.
After Leverkusen, Heynckes returned to Bayern for his third stint in 2011, making up for second-place in the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup in 2012 by winning them all the following season.
By then Bayern had already announced Pep Guardiola would take over for the 2013-14 season, effectively forcing Heynckes to step aside. He later announced his retirement.
Both Guardiola and Ancelotti, who won the Bundesliga every season, suffered by way of comparison to Heynckes’ treble achievement. Guardiola failed to win the Champions League in his three seasons, while Ancelotti’s side was outclassed by eventual champion Madrid last season.
Hoeness reportedly has Germany’s coach of the year, Julian Nagelsmann, earmarked to take over next season. The 30-year-old Nagelsmann saved Hoffenheim from relegation in his first season, then led it to European soccer after its best ever season in his next.
Hoffenheim was level on points with Bayern after seven rounds of the Bundesliga and loath to let Nagelsmann go before the season ends. In Heynckes, Bayern is turning to a trusted hand.
