The rumour about Max Eberl and FC Bayern is persistently unfolding. Lake Tegernsee, south of Munich, could become an important factor. Also because of Uli Hoeneß.
Munich - Max Eberl knows the narrow gravel path along the Valepp into the valley of the same name at Lake Tegernsee very well. Uphill, along the small mountain stream, the 49-year-old from Lower Bavaria liked to ride his mountain bike when he was still sporting director of Borussia Mönchengladbach.
Max Eberl: Bayern candidate knows his way around Lake Tegernsee
He walked the way to the sports ground of FC Rottach-Egern, which is nestled in the middle of the deep green Bavarian foothills of the Alps. The Gladbach team trained here year after year in the summer preparations, including a friendly match against TSV 1860 Munich, FC Bayern's city rivals.
The players were even allowed to attend the Rottacher Waldfest, a large traditional Bavarian festival at the Gebirgsschützenhütte. Several of Gladbach's professionals at the time were identified beyond doubt by the long wooden bar. And this is in the territory of the Bavarians.
Located 50 kilometers south of Munich: The Tegernsee, on the left, in the west with the community of Bad Wiessee, where Uli Hoeneß lives. © IMAGO / Westend61
Eberl was once trained as a footballer at the same German Bundesliga record champions. That was in the 1970s and 1980s. He did not make his breakthrough with the first team in Munich, which is why he tried his luck at VfL Bochum and Gladbach. At Tegernsee, the circle could now close. And the future of the Bavarians will be negotiated.
FC Bayern: Munich are looking for a new sporting director after parting ways with Hasan Salihamidzic
After all, the Munich team is looking for a successor as sporting director after parting ways with Hasan Salihamidzic. Among other things, Sport Bild reports that this man could be Eberl, who is currently managing director of sports at DFB Cup winner RB Leipzig. According to the trade magazine, the Saxons insist that Eberl should at least end the current transfer period for them. But then it could be renegotiated.
FCB president Herbert Hainer Hainer explained in an interview with the same newspaper: "In our search for a sporting director, we set ourselves the goal of quality over speed. Of course, we would like to have it as soon as possible, but if it takes a few months or until Christmas, it doesn't throw us off track. We can bridge the situation well." Fittingly, club patron Uli Hoeneß told the Süddeutsche Zeitung: "There are many options for us. Ideally, we will have found the new man by the start of the new season. But if it takes until Christmas, for example, then so be it."
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READMo ManagingDirector of Sport at RB Leipzig: Max Eberl (right), here immediately after the DFB-Pokal victory in Berlin. © IMAGO/Ulrich Hufnagel
Strikingly, Eberl only took up his job in Leipzig in December 2022 after his contract in Gladbach was terminated because the former Bundesliga player had publicly reported symptoms of exhaustion. Where will his future path lead him? Where he always wanted to go, according to his own statements? To Munich? "I was able to afford to organize a property on Lake Tegernsee. I will definitely go south at some point. But that's only privately for now," he said on Sport2020 in April 1.
Max Eberl: Leipzig's managing director has close ties to Munich
And what does he think today? Speaking to Sky at the weekend, Eberl said: "There's the fact that I grew up in Munich and Bayern Munich is my youth club, that my parents live in Munich and I have a great relationship with Munich. But there's also the fact that I have a contract in Leipzig. That I'm planning my transfer period, that I'm planning extensions. Those are the facts I'm clinging to."
At the same time, he told SID: "There was no meeting with Bayern Munich. It is well known that I am in contact with Uli Hoeneß from time to time. But we never talked about it."
FC Bayern: Club patron Uli Hoeneß lives at Tegernsee
Is this where we come full circle? Hoeneß has lived on Lake Tegernsee for many years, more precisely in the idyllic Bad Wiessee on the eastern shore. At Christmas time, the huge illuminated Christmas tree in his garden is an eye-catcher.
On this very property, the 71-year-old Swabian likes to meet up with confidants. For example, he once gave an interview with Hainer to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung when his close friend was not yet with Bayern itself, but with Bayern's major shareholder Adidas.
Rottach-Egern am Tegernsee: The former FC Bayern team in 2019 at the training camp in front of a mountain backdrop. © IMAGO / MIS
Is there going to be another meeting among friends here? In the spring, Eberl Sport1 had said about Hoeness: "He is a role model for me. He is also a mentor to me. I have to say that quite frankly. A mentor therefore: When I started my work as sporting director in Gladbach and was sometimes hostile, I asked him for advice. He was a very nice, great contact person who really helped me. That's why I can only speak highly of Uli Hoeness." Will they be working together soon?
Tegernsee: FC Bayern complete their training camp in Rottach-Egern
On the opposite side of the lake, on the sports grounds of FC Rottach-Egern, Bayern will start their summer preparations with a training camp between 15 and 20 July. Where the gravel road leads, which Eberl has already ridden umpteen times with his mountain bike. (pm)