Bayern coach Tuchel to leave at end of season

Bayern Munich said Wednesday they would part ways with manager Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season, as the reigning German champions struggled to stay in the Bundesliga title race.

“We came to the mutual decision to end our collaboration in the summer,” Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen said in a statement, following talks with Tuchel.

The coach, whose contract was set to run through to 2025, would exit the club on June 30 this year.

“Until then, my coaching team and I will of course continue to do everything we can to ensure maximum success,” Tuchel said in the statement.

Bayern would look for a “new sporting direction” under a new coach next season, CEO Dreesen said.

Tuchel’s preemptive dismissal comes after a series of three straight defeats, including a painful 3-0 loss to league rivals Bayer Leverkusen.

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

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

Following the loss to Leverkusen, Bayern slipped to a 1-0 defeat against Italian side Lazio in the Champions League round of 16 and an humiliating 3-2 loss to minnows Bochum in the league.

Tuchel suffers the same fate as his predecessor Julian Nagelsmann, who was fired in March last year with the perennial German champions second in the league.

Bayern bosses pounced to make highly-rated Tuchel their coach after his dismissal from Chelsea in late 2022.

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

His tenure got off to a rocky start, with Bayern eliminated from the domestic cup at the quarter-final stage by Freiburg.

Bayern were subsequently dumped out of the Champions League in the quarters by Manchester City and muddled through the end of the league season.

A 3-1 loss to Leipzig left them in second place behind Borussia Dortmund going into the final day of the Bundesliga season.

Only a slip by Dortmund, who drew 2-2 with Mainz, allowed the Bavarian giants past to seal their 11th-straight Bundesliga title.

Bayern went into this season as favourites to make it a dozen Bundesliga trophies in a row.

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 dumped out of the German cup race by third-division side Saarbruecken.