Despite having a contract that runs through 2025, Bayern Munich has opted to part ways with head coach Thomas Tuchel, the club announced on Wednesday.
Bayern currently trails league leaders Bayer Leverkusen by eight points in the Bundesliga after losing their past three games across all competitions, including a 3-0 loss to the former.
They also lost 1-0 to Lazio in the first leg of the Champions League last week, and they now run the possibility of finishing the season without a championship for the first time in almost 10 years.
With great anticipation, Tuchel replaced Julian Nagelsmann in March 2023. However, he had a rough start, losing the German Cup and the Champions League before stealing the Bundesliga championship from Borussia Dortmund.
This season they have been equally mercurial, showing only glimpses of the form that saw them dominate German football for the past decade. They were eliminated from the German Cup by third-tier club Saarbruecken.
Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said there would a ‘a new direction’ next season with a new coach.
“In a good, open discussion, we came to the decision to end our working relationship by mutual agreement in the summer,” Dreesen said. “Our goal is to pursue a new footballing direction with a new head coach for the 2024/25 season.”
“Until then, every individual at the club is expressly called upon to achieve the maximum possible in the Champions League and Bundesliga. I also explicitly hold the team accountable in this regard.”
The coach, who in the past had been in charge at Borussia Dortmund, Paris St Germain and also won a Champions League title with Chelsea in 2021, said his remaining time in Munich would be focused on the remaining goals in the Bundesliga and the Champions League.
His first full season at Bayern had been hit by a string of injuries to key players and by what he had said was a relatively thin squad at the start of the campaign despite the arrival of Bundesliga record signing Harry Kane.
