Head coach extends stay until 2012

Bayern boss Louis van Gaal has signed a new contract keeping him at the helm of Germany’s most successful club until 30 June 2012. The head coach inked the new deal on Monday following the Bayern party’s arrival in Basel. Van Gaal’s staff members Andries Jonker (assistant coach) Frans Hoek (goalkeeping coach), Jos van Dyk (sport physiologist), Marcel Bout (scout) and Max Reckers (match analysis) will also remain with the club until 2012.

“We’ve agreed the fundamentals of a contract extension. It's not signed yet, but it’s a mere formality,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had announced ahead of the FCB party’s departure for Tuesday evening’s Champions League Group E fixture against the Swiss double winners.

Positive signal

Van Gaal’s current deal in Munich was set to expire at the end of this season. The new contract removes any uncertainty over both parties’ positions for a further season. The board of directors was never going to be dissuaded from pursuing a new deal with Van Gaal simply because of the club’s patchy start to the 2010-11 campaign, Rummenigge stated.