Tuchel replaces fired Nagelsmann as Bayern boss
>>BERLIN: Bayern Munich announced on Friday they had appointed former Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain coach Thomas Tuchel as their new boss after firing Julian Nagelsmann.
Nagelsmann, 35, led Bayern to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and will face Premier League champions Manchester City next month.
But Bayern have not enjoyed their normal dominance of the Bundesliga so far this season and so have replaced Nagelsmann with 49-year-old Tuchel, who won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021.
The reigning German champions said in a statement: “FC Bayern and head coach Julian Nagelsmann have parted company... Nagelsmann will be succeeded by Thomas Tuchel.”
Bayern said Tuchel would receive a contract until June 2025 and he will supervise training for the first time tomorrow.
Bayern chairman Oliver Kahn said: “Personally and on behalf of FC Bayern, I would like to thank Julian and his coaching team, and wish everyone the best of luck for the future.”
Bayern signed Nagelsmann to a fiveyear deal just two years ago but nerves have been fraying as the perennial Bundesliga champions struggle to hold onto their title.
They sit second to Tuchel’s former club Borussia Dortmund in the league table.
Tuchel — who Bayern had eyed previously but lost out to other topflight European clubs — has been in between jobs after he was fired by Chelsea in September.
His first match will come as soon as April 1, when Bayern meet Dortmund, the club that Tuchel led from 2015-2017 before he left for PSG.
Although Bayern beat PSG in the last 16 of the Champions League, dumping out a team including Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi, the Germans then suffered a blow when they lost 2-1 against Bayer Leverkusen last Sunday.
Tuchel guided Chelsea to the Champions League title when they beat Manchester City 1-0 in the final in Porto in 2021, but was released by the London club soon after the start of this season.