Bayern München just won its ninth consecutive Bundesliga title, extending its record for most consecutive and overall German Association Football League Titles (30). This success also included winning both the 2020 UEFA Champions League and FIFA Club World Cup undefeated, a feat that might take many years to be seen again.
But Head coach Hans-Dieter Flick (DEU) is set to leave after this season. Some question is this will end Bayern’s dominating era.
It is quite unlikely. This streak dating back to 2013 has seen Jupp Heynckes (DEU) twice, Pep Guardiola (ESP), Carlo Ancelotti (ITA), Niko Kovač (HRV) and now Flick. True, each of them has implemented their practices but as part of a larger system that does not just rely in coaching.
While some of the world’s largest teams are heavily indebted – the main trigger behind the Super League proposal – due to their high salaries and maintenance costs, Bayern has been able to still have high maintenance costs and the best player lineup in the world and still turn a profit, even in a year where a pandemic forced them to play behind closed doors (SportsPro).
Bayern is the definition of successful models to admire and be replicated. Indeed they are not perfect. Just a few months ago they were eliminated from the DFB Pokal by a lower-tier team. They will also not defend their Champions League title in a couple of weeks. But the important is to have systems that work.
The coach might be changing but Bayern is under control. Flick – who is headed to the German national team for the Qatar 2022 World Cup and Germany 2024 Euro processes – is leaving but Bayern got hold of 33 year-old Julian Nagelsmann (DEU), who has been extremely successful with Hoffenheim and Leipzig, and is touted as a genius in the coaching zeitgeist.
And geniuses need correct environments to thrive. Environments where things work, and things work in Bayern.
Robert Lewandowski (POL) is one goal away from the historic goal scoring record for a season in Bundesliga, which Gerd Müller (DEU) has since 1972; Kinglsey Coman (FRA) has been a Champion for ten years in a row; Thomas Müller (DEU) and Manuel Neuer (DEU) are cementing their place as two of the best European players of all time.
But none of these geniuses have achieved it in a vacuum but rather in an environment of teamgesit that is not set to chance.
