Max Eberl is welcomed in Munich like a savior. Many tasks await the new sports director.
By Patrick Strasser
In the wake of the official appointment of Max Eberl as FC Bayern Munich’s sports director, it is worth taking a look back in order to understand the magnitude of the decision and to understand how long the road was to this day and this supervisory board meeting on Monday evening in the Allianz Arena .
After Matthias Sammer, the last strong man for sports on the FC Bayern board, left due to illness in July 2016, there was a power vacuum for a good year due to a lack of available successor candidates. Philipp Lahm had just ended his career and turned down the offered job of sports director because, in his view, the then president Uli Hoeneß was “still too energetic” to “let go” and wanted to “influence things himself”. The bosses of Gladbacher Borussia did not let their successful sports director Max Eberl go. The first approach was nothing more than a flirt, but contact with Hoeneß never ended.
It was only in July 2017 that the alpha animals Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the CEO at the time, presented a surprising emergency solution: ex-professional Hasan Salihamidzic, always impeccable, hard-working and loyal, was promoted from brand ambassador to sports director and three years later thanks to diligent and loyal work Appointed sports director.
In May last year, however, they parted ways with Salihamidzic as well as board boss Oliver Kahn, who had failed with a realignment of the club and had given a very bad impression when coach Julian Nagelsmann was surprisingly fired.
The leap of faith for Max Eberl is great
Eight years after the farewell to Sammer, who first supported coach Jupp Heynckes in 2012 and then acted as a partner and then a counterpart for his successor Pep Guardiola, all hopes now rest on Eberl. He should fill the office of sports director with life again, according to his know-how and his network. The leap of faith is great, his contract runs until mid-2027. With Eberl, the restructuring of the record champions’ power center has been completed. According to Hoeneß, who is honorary president but still in the role of club patron, who continues to direct FC Bayern’s fortunes from the background from his residence on Lake Tegernsee, the desired staffing is now in place “that should shape the future”.
For Eberl, who was born in Bogen near Straubing in Lower Bavaria, who came to FC Bayern at the age of six and worked through all of Munich’s youth teams up to the professionals, his appointment to the center of power on Säbener Straße is a lifelong dream come true. True to the motto: What takes a long time will finally be good. And Hoeneß has put together his dream team at management level. Ever since the separation from Salihamidzic, Eberl was seen as Hoeneß’s ideal solution; President Herbert Hainer and CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen also advocated for him. Both, Hoeneß’ friend Hainer and Kahn’s successor Dreesen, were considered the preferred candidates of the powerful man from Tegernsee before their election or appointment.
Personnel that everyone involved is happy with
With the assumption of office on March 1st, the people of Munich now have a sports director with whom everyone involved is completely happy. You could read the relief of those responsible at Bayern between the lines of the press release: What belongs together has finally grown together. Eberl must have internalized the club mantra “Mia san mia”. At the end of September, the Bavarian, who owns an apartment in Munich and has recently spent a lot of time there, left RB Leipzig as managing director of sports. The accusation of a “lack of identification with the club”, as Eberl was accused of by RB supervisory board member Oliver Mintzlaff, is probably unlikely to be made by anyone in Munich. The Munich team will transfer a fee of around 4.5 million euros for their returnee.
Eberl, who is supposed to become the dominant face of the club when it comes to media work, has a huge agenda ahead of him. The most important challenge is to find a head coach as quickly as possible who will succeed the failed Thomas Tuchel in the summer and who will be able to achieve success and titles again and at the same time embody the desired “continuity in the coaching chair”. Squad planning can only be progressed with the new coach.
But will Eberl manage to get Xabi Alonso, Bayern’s number one preferred candidate, away from Bayer Leverkusen? That’s not the only thing the 50-year-old will be judged on. He once wanted to bring the Basque to Borussia in the Lower Rhine. At that time, Alonso, who had previously worked in the youth sector in Spain, did not feel ready for the Bundesliga. Can he reject Eberl, who is now FC Bayern Eberl, a second time?
Parallel to the search for a coach, the new sports director has to design and moderate a large-scale squad shake-up and has to offend many a seasoned professional because he unexpectedly ends up on the sales list. Serge Gnabry, Leon Goretzka, Joshua Kimmich, Alphonso Davies and Leroy Sané are the weak candidates. It gets complicated – sell or extend? A decision must be made soon for Kimmich, Davies and Sané; they each have valid working papers until 2025.
Max Eberl: Negotiation skills and an eye for talent
During his stints in Mönchengladbach and Leipzig, Eberl was able to prove that he has transfer negotiating skills and an eye for talent. The Bayern bosses want to present a different image than in the recent past, just no longer create chaos like in the botched summer transfer period in 2023 and demonstrate unity. For this purpose, the organizational structure is being redefined.
According to the motto “Keep it simple”, the board will only consist of three positions from July 1, 2024: Dreesen, the deputy chairman of the board Michael Diederich (finance & sales) and Max Eberl, the newly appointed board member for sports. Leaner and more efficient structures should enable quick coordination and dynamic decisions. You want to “always act quickly”. The bosses in 2023 were annoyed by the fact that too many cooks spoiled the broth.
In this context, it will be exciting to see how the future division of tasks between Eberl and sports director Christoph Freund, who took up his position on September 1st, will be implemented. With his approachable, calm manner, the previous sports director of RB Salzburg managed to gain trust from the bosses and the squad in six months. Friend now has Eberl in front of him and has to subordinate himself and work for him. No problem for the 46-year-old, who quickly found a professional and friendly level with coach Tuchel. “We’ve known each other for a long time,” said Freund beforehand, “Max has been in the business for a long time and has a lot of experience. We’ve always had a good exchange.”
Eberl is said to want to bring a close confidant with him – either Felix Krüger, one of his closest employees from his short time at RB Leipzig, or Steffen Korell, the Mönchengladbach squad planner.
The question of all questions, however, is: Does Eberl actually get all the power? One can assume: After all the verbal praise on the day of the appointment, Hoeneß, the patron, will already be holding his protective hand over the new prince.