The CEO Oliver Kahn (53) is massively criticized at FC Bayern Munich – and allegedly even before the end. Who is traded as a successor? An overview.
Possible Kahn successor from the Bundesliga: Axel Hellmann
Eintracht Frankfurt’s board spokesman has been in a power struggle with the chairman of the supervisory board, Philip Holzer, at his current club for months – and is therefore actually predestined for a post at Bayern. After all, the moderation of internal disputes is part of the core business of the Munich company.
Hellmann has worked for Eintracht since 2001 and has been a member of the board since 2012. The 51-year-old is considered the maker of modern harmony: victories in the DFB Cup and in the Europa League, Champions League round of 16, the discovery and development of a number of exciting players – hardly any other German club can look back on such successful and emotional years as Hellmanns unity.
Loud sky there should have been talks between Hellmann and representatives of FC Bayern. Loud Picture but he canceled, so he wanted to decide between staying with Eintracht (contract until 2027) and the post of DFL managing director. Since leaving Donata Hopfen, Hellmann has been managing the DFL on an interim basis together with Oliver Leki from SC Freiburg. Leki doesn’t want to work full-time outside of the sports club.
Top manager who now makes moving images: Christian Seifert
Hopfen’s predecessor as DFL managing director was Christian Seifert. He is also considered a candidate for the successor to Kahn at Bayern Munich. After 16 successful years at the head of the league association, Seifert is retiring in 2021 to set up the platform together with Axel-Springer-Verlag DYN build up. This is a streaming service that will broadcast all kinds of sports from August 2023. Except football.
At Bayern, Seifert is held in the highest esteem. Two years ago, President Herbert Hainer described the 53-year-old as “a stroke of luck for German football” and “a prototype of a solid culture of success”. Loud sports1 However, Seifert feels extremely connected to his current project and is not available for a double role.
Possible Kahn successor: Oliver Bierhoff
While Hellmann and Seifert can look back on successful years, Oliver Bierhoff has not had it easy recently. Bierhoff came to the DFB as a manager in 2004 together with Jürgen Klinsmann and Joachim Löw and led the association into the modern age. Since winning the 2014 World Cup, however, his once positive image has changed radically: Bierhoff was recently seen as the face of the decline and over-commercialization of the German national team.
After the disastrous World Cup in Qatar, the DFB parted ways with Bierhoff, who in the meantime had risen from manager to managing director. As the only candidate traded so far, Bierhoff would be available immediately. Possibly problematic: During his time at the DFB, Bierhoff regularly quarreled publicly with the Munich grandees Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on a wide variety of topics.
The one with the FCB stable smell: Philipp Lahm
Born in Munich, former captain and generally a reflective person: Philipp Lahm is actually predestined for a management role at FC Bayern. stable smell and such. In 2017, the 39-year-old was considered a candidate for the position of sports director. At that time he refused because Hoeneß “is still too energetic to let go”.
This circumstance has changed in the meantime, but is counteracted by Hoeneß’ current behavior. Although he actually only acts as a simple member of the supervisory board, the 71-year-old is again involved in all important decisions and even showed up on the training ground on Wednesday.
Hoeneß’ presence this time should not be Lahm’s decisive argument against working in the Bayern management. As tournament director, he is currently planning the home European Championship in 2024. Loud Picture he is therefore not available to FC Bayern.
Possible Kahn successor from the family: Florian Hoeneß
It is possible that Hoeneß’s presence at Bayern will even increase – by Uli lifting his 43-year-old son Florian into a management position. In any case, this rumor spread Picture. Florian Hoeneß took over the management of the family business HoWe Wurstwaren in 2001 at the age of just 21. The company, based in Nuremberg, employs around 300 people. Although according to his own statement “until I was 14 or 15 years old there was only football”, he has never worked in the professional football business.
He has a close relationship with his father Uli. “Dad and I have the same view of important life issues,” said Florian Hoeneß recently Picture. “I admire his culture of argument. He doesn’t hold grudges, never ducks away and says openly what he thinks. He also has the gift of admitting his own mistakes.” How about Oliver Kahn? As is well known, the former keeper also took over the chairmanship of the board at FC Bayern at Hoeneß’s instigation in 2021.
FC Bayern instead of Red Bulls? Oliver Mintzlaff
From 2014 to 2022, Oliver Bierhoff moderated the rapid rise of the Red Bull retort club RB Leipzig. Mintzlaff also had FC Bayern to thank for some of the project’s setbacks, which he regularly used in Leipzig. Defense chief Dayot Upamecano, captain Marcel Sabitzer and coach Julian Nagelsmann recently moved to Munich, and midfielder Konrad Laimer will follow in the summer.
“I hope that Bayern will come up with other ideas and not always get our players,” Mintzlaff complained last summer during the Laimer poker game. Currently, the 47-year-old no longer has to deal with such marginalia. Since the death of longtime CEO Dietrich Mateschitz at the end of last year, Mintzlaff has been one of three Red Bull managing directors.
Incidentally, the links between FC Bayern and Red Bull are surprisingly close: the two companies are currently building the multifunctional SAP Garden together in Munich, for example, which will then serve as a home for the ice hockey club EHC Red Bull Munich and also a bit of Bavaria’s basketball players.
FC Bayern – back to the future: Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
What if Kahn gets kicked out and none of the people mentioned work out? Then, at least temporarily, his predecessor Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (67) may have to take over. The case of Jupp Heynckes shows that Hoeneß can persuade former companions to comeback.
