MADRID: Barcelona appo­i­nted former Bayern Munich and Germany boss Hansi Flick as coach on Wednesday on a deal which runs till June 2026, after sacking Xavi Hernandez last week.

Flick, who has not managed a club since being sacked by Germany in September 2023, will be tasked with reviving Barca’s fortunes after the Cata­lan side failed to win any trophies this season under Xavi, who was dismissed on Friday.

“FC Barcelona and Hansi Flick have reached an agreement for the German to bec­o­me men’s first team football coach until 30 June 2026,” the La Liga club said. “The new coach has sig­ned a contract at the Club’s off­ices accompanied by FC Ba­r­celona president Joan Laporta.”

Flick, who led German gia­nts Bayern to a historic sextuple of trophies in 2020, became the first coach ever to be sac­ked by the German national team in September 2023 after a string of bad results.

Barca believe they have secured the services of a “champion coach”.

“By bringing Hansi Flick as coach, FC Barcelona have chosen a man well-known for his teams’ high pressing, intense and daring style of play which has brought him great success at club level and international level, winning pretty much all there is to win in the world of football,” read the club statement. Flick said it was an honour and a dream to be the Barca coach.

“I’m really looking forward to start working for this amazing club. Since I have arrived I have seen that everyone loves this club and does everything they can for its success,” he told Barca TV.

“I won some titles with Bayern Munich and my hunger is really big for titles. I would like to stay on this path with Barcelona. We can achieve a lot together.”

The new coach spoke of his and the club’s matching philosophies around ball possession and attacking football: “These are the things I love.”

Flick will be reunited with former Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski, who is now with the Catalan club. Flick also coached goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and midfielder Ilkay Gundogan during his time as Germany coach.

He praised Barcelona’s mix of youth and experience. “Barcelona has one of the best academies in the world and a good mix between experienced players and young talented players. We have to groove them [so] that they can improve. This is our job.”

The 59-year-old occasionally watched Barcelona matc­hes this season from the presidential box and was linked with the job after Xavi said in January he would depart at the end of the campaign.

Barca and Xavi decided jointly he would stay for next season after all in April but then Laporta changed his mind and sacked the former midfield great after a season in which Barca finished 10 points behind champions Real Madrid in La Liga, lost the Spanish Super Cup final to their arch-rivals and were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris St Germain in the last eight.

The German filling Xavi’s shoes faces a tough challenge ahead with fixing Barca’s on-field struggles amid turmoil off the pitch, including deepening financial problems and a refereeing scandal that could drag on for years.

Flick made his name assisting Germany manager Joac­him Low during their 2014 World Cup winning campaign. In 2019, he joined Bayern as head coach, securing seven trophies in his two seasons in charge.

He guided Bayern to a treble in 2020, when they beat Barca 8-2 on course to winning the Champions League, before leaving the Bundesliga giants in 2021 to manage the German national team.

Flick was criticised for the four-times world champions’ poor run in the 2022 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the group stage, and was eventually sacked in September 2023 after a heavy home defeat by Japan in a friendly match.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2024