Barcelona have reached a verbal agreement with Hansi Flick to become her coach, after releasing an appreciation statement to Xavi Hernandez for his work and contribution to the club in the past 2 seasons…A statement from the Catalan club reads: “FC Barcelona wishes to thank Xavi for his work as coach, as well as for his inimitable career as a player and as team captain, and wishes him every future success in the world.
Barcelona whose statement meant a sack for Xavi, just a month after convincing him to stay on in the role; after the Spaniard announced in January of his desire to leave the club at the end of the season but reversed his decision. Flick, a former Bayern Munich and Germany manager is set to replace him after reaching a verbal agreement with the catalonia club.
The 44-year-old Spaniard will take charge of Barcelona’s final game of the season against Sevilla on Sunday before leaving the club. Barcelona, who are the latest top European club to sack their manager at the end of this season. In the Premier League, Chelsea are looking for a new coach after sacking Mauricio Pochettino this week.
There is also serious doubt over Erik ten Hag’s future at Manchester United, who recorded their lowest-ever finish in England’s top-flight this term. Brighton also parted ways with Roberto De Zerbi earlier this month despite the Italian guiding the club to its first ever European campaign this season. Bayern Munich are another top club looking for a manager after informing Thomas Tuchel in January that he will not continue for the next season.
Burnley manager Vincent Kompany, is currently the German club’s preferred candidate. AC Milan also announced that her manager, Stefano Pioli will leave the club, with former Roma boss Paulo Fonseca the frontrunner to succeed him. Juventus was also sacked Massimiliano Allegri last week after the Italian manager’s behaviour after the Coppa Italia win over Atalanta. He is set to be replaced by Thiago Motta, who will leave third-placed Bologna next week.
Ajax have also recplaced interim manager John van’t Schip with Nice manager Francesco Farioli, who has left the French club.
Flick who left Bayern with one of the greatest winning records in modern football history. During his tenure, Bayern lost just seven games and won seven trophies (Bundesliga twice, DFB-Pokal, Champions League, DFL-Supercup, UEFA Supercup, Club World Cup).
Bayern went undefeated in the 2019–20 Champions League, becoming the first team in European/Champions League history to lift the trophy with a 100 percent win record, and won 23 matches in a row across all competitions between 16 February 2020 and 18 September 2020, a record in German professional football.
Flick also coached Bayern to a treble, the second treble in Bayern’s history. Flick held one of the highest win rates in football history, winning 83% of his games and helped Bayern average 3.0 goals per game across all competitions.
In October 2020, Flick won Europe’s Coach of the Year, an award for the best coach in football in the major football leagues of Europe. 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 2021, he also led the side to a FIFA Club World Cup and another Bundesliga title. Alongside Pep Guardiola, he is one of only two managers to achieve a sextuple with their team. He later replaced Löw in charge of the Germany national team in 2021, leading the team to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, before being dismissed in 2023 following a run of disappointing results.
Between 2006 and 2014, he was the assistant coach of Germany under manager Joachim Löw as they won the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and subsequently served as sporting director of the German Football Association until 2017.
Fact:
▪︎The second most successful Barcelona manager in terms of trophies won is Johan Cruyff, who won four La Liga titles, one Copa del Rey, three Supercopa de España, one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, one European Cup and one European Super Cup in his 8-year reign as manager.