The speculation about the future of Oliver Kahn overshadowed the sporting events at FC Bayern in the last week of the season. On Saturday (3.30 p.m., Sky) the German football record champions will play at 1. FC Köln, while Borussia Dortmund will receive 1. FSV Mainz 05 at the same time. If BVB wins, they are champions. For Bayern it would be the first untitled season in twelve years. It would be the Gau for Munich.
Next Tuesday, three days after the end of the season, the club’s powerful board of directors will meet. One of the members of the committee is the still influential Honorary President Uli Hoeneß.
The meeting should also be about Kahn’s future, who has been criticized in particular since Julian Nagelsmann changed coaches to Thomas Tuchel and eliminated two competitions. In Munich there is speculation that the former world-class goalkeeper will be recalled – although Kahn’s contract is valid until the end of 2024.
A few days before the decisive, last day of the game, one name is being traded as a possible successor to Kahn: Jan-Christian Dreesen. Several media reports on the club’s considerations of keeping Dreesen at Bayern.
The 55-year-old has been a member of the club’s board of directors since 2013 and has been deputy chairman since 2014. He will be stepping down as CFO on June 30 – at least that was the plan so far.
“After long and careful consideration, I have now decided to redefine my personal goals after this extraordinary decade,” said Dreesen last September. In Dr. Michael Diederich has already found a new CFO. Under Dreesen, the Bavarians achieve record sales.
FC Bayern’s 3-1 draw against RB Leipzig last Saturday was the club’s last home game of the season. Striking: Dreesen was not adopted there. At FC Bayern, it is customary to thank and say goodbye to well-deserving employees in a special setting.
In Munich, this is taken as an indication that Dreesen could take over as CEO. Before his time at FC Bayern, Dreesen was on the board of HypoVereinsbank and later head of the German business at UBS. Dreesen is held in high esteem on the supervisory board and in the club.
However, Dreesen is also considered a candidate for the top position in the German Football League (DFL). He is already a member of the DFL executive committee and chairman of the league’s licensing committee. It is said that he could lead the club with Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Kahn’s predecessor, as advisors at his side. Dreesen is closely associated with Rummenigge and Hoeneß and is considered a critic of Kahn.
A decision should be made at the FC Bayern supervisory board meeting at the latest. In recent weeks there has also been speculation that the previous club president Herbert Hainer could replace the criticized Kahn as CEO. Hainer was CEO of Adidas for a long time.
