Hansi Flick

Lore & Background

A midfielder, Flick played for SV Sandhausen, Bayern Munich, and 1. FC Köln during his career as a player. He played 104 matches for Bayern Munich and scored five goals between 1985 and 1990, winning four Bundesliga titles and one DFB-Pokal, and playing in the 1987 European Cup Final. He later played 44 matches for Köln before retiring from professional football in 1993 due to injuries.

Flick never played for the Germany national team, but made two appearances for the Germany under-18 team in May 1983. He began his managerial career as player-manager of fourth-division club Victoria Bammental. In 2000, he became manager of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, leading them to promotion to the Regionalliga Süd before leaving in 2005. From 2006 to 2014, he was assistant coach of the German national team under Joachim Löw, contributing to their victory at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

He served as sporting director of the German Football Association from 2014 to 2017. Having rejoined Bayern Munich as an assistant coach in 2019, Flick was made interim manager in November 2019, later appointed permanently, and won the UEFA Champions League that season, completing the club's second continental treble. In 2021, he led the side to a FIFA Club World Cup and another Bundesliga title. Alongside Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique, they are the only managers to have ever achieved a sextuple with their team.

He 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 domestic treble (Supercopa de España, Copa del Rey and La Liga) in his debut season, then winning La Liga and the Supercopa de España in his next.

Reader's Guide

Flick's managerial career began in 1996 as a player-manager of Victoria Bammental. In July 2000, he became manager of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, winning the Oberliga Baden-Württemberg and promotion to the Regionalliga Süd in his first season. He also won the North Baden Cup four times in a row between 2002 and 2005. After four unsuccessful attempts to reach the 2.

Bundesliga, he was released on 19 November 2005. He later worked briefly as an assistant of Giovanni Trapattoni and Lothar Matthäus and sporting coordinator at Red Bull Salzburg. He was named assistant coach for Germany on 23 August 2006, and was technically the German manager for the UEFA Euro 2008 quarter final against Portugal on 19 June 2008 due to Joachim Löw's sending off. He became sporting director at the DFB after the 2014 World Cup until 16 January 2017.

He was appointed sporting director of Hoffenheim at the start of the 2017–18 season, but the contract was terminated after eight months. On 2 July 2019, he joined Bayern Munich as an assistant coach under Niko Kovač. When Kovač left on 3 November 2019, Flick was promoted to interim manager. He was made permanent on 22 December 2019, and in April 2020 given a new contract until 2023.

During the 2019–20 season, he guided Bayern to win the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and UEFA Champions League, completing the continental treble. He was named German Football Manager of the Year and won the UEFA Men's Coach of the Year Award. The following season, he led Bayern to win the 2020 UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup in February 2021. On 17 April 2021, he announced he wanted to leave at the end of the season.

On 25 May 2021, the DFB announced he signed a three-year contract from 1 August 2021 to serve as manager of the Germany national team, replacing Joachim Löw after UEFA Euro 2020. He won his first match 2–0 against Liechtenstein on 2 September 2021. He became the third coach to stay undefeated in his first ten matches, a run that ended on 23 September 2022 with a 1–0 loss to Hungary. In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Germany was eliminated in the group stage.

Flick was sacked on 10 September 2023, a day after a 1–4 loss in a friendly against Japan. On 29 May 2024, he signed as manager of Barcelona on a contract until 30 June 2026. He won his first league match on 17 August 2024, a 1–2 comeback victory against Valencia.