Bayern Munich announced on Friday that former Germany boss and World Cup winner Juergen Klinsmann will take the reins at the club next season.
MUNICH: Bayern Munich announced on Friday that former Germany boss and World Cup winner Juergen Klinsmann will take the reins at the club next season.
"Former Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann will take over on July 1, 2008," said a statement on the club's official website.
Klinsmann was due to be presented at a news conference in Munich at 1500 GMT.
Although current coach Ottmar Hitzfeld had already announced he will leave the club at the end of the current season, the appointment of 43-year-old Klinsmann came as a surprise.
The four-time European champions were looking for a big name to continue the job of reviving their fortunes after they failed to qualify for the Champions League last season when they finished fourth in the Bundesliga.
But Klinsmann's name had not been mentioned as a contender, with former Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho, former Bayern star Lothar Matthaeus and Dutch pair Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard all named by the German media as possible successors to the veteran Hitzfeld.
Klinsmann coached Germany to the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup on home soil, but the Bayern role will be his first coaching job at a club although he has worked as an advisor to David Beckham's current club Los Angeles Galaxy.
Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer welcomed the appointment and denied the club were taking a risk on an inexperienced coach.
"It is not a courageous decision, it is an intelligent and thought-out decision," Beckenbauer told Bild newspaper to be published Saturday.
"Juergen Klinsmann brought success to the national team with his new methods and I am sure he will also be successful at Bayern."
Klinsmann ploughed his own course as Germany coach, drafting in young players and creating a formidable team spirit that carried the host nation to the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup where they lost to eventual winners Italy.
He left his post immediately after the tournament, turned down a host of offers and retreated to his home in California.
But he returned to the football fold last year when he accepted a job as a match analyst for German television.
In an illustrious career as a prolific striker, Klinsmann played for Bayern between 1995 and 1997, winning the German league title and UEFA Cup, and also starred for Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco and Tottenham.
He helped Germany win the World Cup in 1990 when they beat Argentina 1-0 in the final in Rome and spearheaded their victory at the 1996 European Championships in England.
The Bundesliga is currently on a winter break and matches do not resume until February 1.
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