Hansi Flick

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

A midfielder, Flick played for SV Sandhausen, Bayern Munich, and 1. FC Köln during his career as a player. He began his managerial career as player-manager of fourth-division club Victoria Bammental. In 2000, he became manager of fellow fourth-division side TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, leading the team to promotion to the Regionalliga Süd before leaving in 2005. From 2006 to 2014, Flick was the assistant coach of the German national team under Joachim Löw, contributing to their victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He subsequently served as the sporting director of the German Football Association (DFB) from 2014 to 2017. Having rejoined Bayern Munich as an assistant coach in 2019, Flick was made interim manager following the departure of Niko Kovač in November 2019. He was later appointed permanently, and won the UEFA Champions League that season, completing the club's second continental treble. In the 2020–21 season, he also led the side to a Bundesliga title and the FIFA Club World Cup, which was played in February 2021 but awarded for the 2020 edition. Alongside Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, they are the only managers to have ever achieved a sextuple with their team. He later replaced Löw in charge of the Germany national team in 2021, leading the team to qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, before being dismissed in 2023. In 2024, he joined Spanish club Barcelona, winning the Supercopa de España in his debut season.

In Their Own Story

The turning point came on November 6, 2019, when Flick managed his first game as interim boss, defeating Olympiacos 2-0. By April 2020, his impact was undeniable, earning him a permanent contract until 2023. The season culminated in Lisbon, where Bayern completed their second continental treble. In February 2021, they secured the FIFA Club World Cup by defeating Mexican side Tigres, finalizing the sextuple—a feat shared only with Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique. Despite these triumphs, Flick announced his departure on April 17, 2021, citing a desire to coach the Germany national team. He left behind a legacy of excellence: Bayern lost just seven games during his tenure and won seven out of nine possible trophies. His teams averaged 3.0 goals per game with an 83% win rate, including a perfect 100% record in the 2019-20 Champions League.

Reader's Guide

During his playing career, he was a midfielder who played 104 matches for Bayern Munich and scored five goals between 1985 and 1990. At Bayern, he won four Bundesliga titles as well as one DFB-Pokal title, and played in the 1987 European Cup Final. He later played 44 matches for Köln before retiring from professional football in 1993 due to injuries. His last spell as a footballer was with Victoria Bammental from 1994 until 2000. Flick never played for the Germany national football team, but he made two appearances for the Germany under-18 team, in the group stage of the 1983 UEFA European Under-18 Championship on 15 and 17 May 1983, in a 1–0 win over Sweden and in a 3–1 win over Bulgaria, respectively. Flick's managerial career began in 1996 as a player-manager of Victoria Bammental, which was playing in the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg at that time. At the end of the 1997–98 season, the club was relegated to the Verbandsliga Baden, but he remained their coach for two more seasons. In July 2000, Flick became a manager of the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg side TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, winning the league and gaining promotion to the Regionalliga Süd in his first season at the club. He also won North Baden Cup four times in a row, between 2002 and 2005. After four unsuccessful attempts to reach the 2. Bundesliga, he was released from duties on 19 November 2005. During his tenure at Hoffenheim, Flick graduated first in his class, alongside Thomas Doll, from the German Sport University Cologne, gaining his top coaching credentials in 2003. Flick later worked briefly as an assistant of Giovanni Trapattoni and Lothar Matthäus and sporting coordinator at Red Bull Salzburg. He stated that his work under Trapattoni, one of the world's most renowned managers, taught him many things, especially on tactics and in developing relations with players, but also said that he disagreed with Trapattoni's defence-first approach. Flick was named the assistant coach for Germany on 23 August 2006. Although not listed as an officially recognized manager by the DFB, due to the sending off of Joachim Löw in the previous game, Flick was technically the German manager for the UEFA Euro 2008 quarter final against Portugal on 19 June 2008, which ended in a 3–2 win for Germany. After finishing second at the UEFA Euro 2008 and third at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he reached the semi-finals at the UEFA

Did You Know?

• Flick played 104 matches for Bayern Munich and scored five goals between 1985 and 1990.
• He won four Bundesliga titles and one DFB-Pokal as a player with Bayern Munich.
• Flick was the assistant coach of Germany when they won the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
• As Bayern Munich manager, he led the team to a continental treble in 2019–20 and a sextuple in 2020.
• Bayern went undefeated in the 2019–20 Champions League, the first team to lift the trophy with a 100 percent win record.