Dante Bonfim Costa Santos – known as Dante – will become the head coach of FC Bayern’s reserves team following his retirement as a player with Nice. The 42-year-old Brazilian returns to Munich 11 years after he first left the club, where he succeeds Holger for in his first coaching role.
Sauer: ‘Dante has experienced almost all you can in football’
Jochen Sauer, director of youth development: “First of all, I’d like to thank Holger Seitz for his great efforts with our second team. We’ve held many discussions among the management in recent months in terms of what our future expectations are of our oldest youth team. We then came to the conclusion that we want to work with a young coach who had also been a player at the highest level. Dante has experienced almost all you can in football and was still a role model for teammates at Nice at 42 years of age in terms of his attitude and professionalism. He convinced us with that mindset in our talks. The fact he’s taking up his first coaching role at Bayern, where he played a big part in the 2013 treble win, makes this story even greater for all involved.”
Wiesinger: ‘Someone who always took on responsibility’
Michael Wiesinger, head of sport and youth development: “Dante was a player who always took on responsibility at all his clubs both on and off the pitch. He spent three years at Bayern and played under lots of great coaches during his career. We quickly recognised in our talks with him how much he wants to take charge of a team. We’re pleased we could bring in a character like him for our team and the entire Campus, and firmly believe that our young players will benefit from him and his experience as a player.”
Dante: “I’m so incredibly excited for this role at my former club Bayern and want to thank the management for their trust in me. Lots of good young players are developed at the Campus and first need to prove themselves in senior football with the reserves. My coaching staff and I want to guide them as best we can in that important step and try to get them closer to their goal of professional football. I’m looking forward to working with all the players, staff and management.”
Dante played the final game of his career last weekend in the second leg of the Ligue 1 play-off against Saint-Étienne. He started the 4-1 win for Nice that kept the team in the top flight to finish with 754 senior appearances. The 13-time Brazil international will have experienced assistants by his side for his first coaching job. Babak Keyhanfar (41), who was Bo Svensson’s assistant at Liefering, Mainz and Union Berlin, will also move to Munich and work alongside Christian Ströbel. The 35-year-old has been working at the Campus for almost a decade and was U19s assistant last season.
The new coaches will take charge of the reserves for the first time on 22 June when they return for pre-season ahead of the new Regionalliga campaign, which kicks off on the weekend of 23-26 July.
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