Martin Demichelis to coach Bayern Munich’s U-19; Miroslav Klose stays with U-17 team

A compromise has been found to satisfy both sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic and U-17 coach Miroslav Klose: Bayern Munich has tapped former player and club legend Martin Demichelis to coach the U-19 junior team, which will allow Klose to remain with the U-17 team an additional year.

Salihamidzic said in the club’s official press release,

Martin Demichelis was immediately ready to take on this important task with the U-19 team. He is proud to return to the club of his heart and will enrich our academy with his quality and international experience. Martin is another former player of FC Bayern; he knows the club and identifies with our philosophy.

News of a tense meeting between Salihamidzic and Klose broke yesterday. The two had appeared to reach an impasse, as Klose remained adamant that he did not want to rush his own development as a coach, but rather preferred to stay with the junior team. It is a testament to how much the club values him that he will get his wish after all. Salihamidzic and he appear to have spoken again — by phone? — and agreed on Demichelis.

Salihamidzic described the decision in the press release as follows:

Miro and I discussed once more what is best for FC Bayern. Miro asked me to be able to continue working with the U-17 team. He knows that we have a plan for training our talents. We have now agreed to the effect that he will remain the coach of the U-17 team for one more year. That was Miro’s wish. We all highly value Miro’s work as a coach. I’m therefore glad that we will continue together down this path to train our youth even better.

The director of the FC Bayern Campus, Jochen Sauer, likewise expressed his satisfaction that “the coaching staff is eminently prepared for the future.”

Martin Demichelis played for Bayern Munich as a center-back from 2003 until the winter of 2010, playing alongside both Klose and Salihamidzic. He was a member of the Argentina team that lost the 2014 World Cup final to Germany. Since retiring, he has frequently served as a club ambassador for Bayern.

Demichelis’ coaching experience is brief but eventful: he served as an assistant at Malaga during the season it was relegated from La Liga, finishing dead last. The club was coached by Míchel when the season began, the third man to coach the team in the turbulent 2016-2017 season; he was fired in January of 2018 with the team in last place. José González replaced him, but proved unable to stop the club’s descent. Demichelis will presumably serve only a year at Bayern, as a placeholder for Klose.