Salihamidžić: ‘This team is capable of defining an era’

The year 2020 has been a challenging one for FC Bayern with the coronavirus pandemic, but the club has overcome everything to win the second treble in its history. It means the bar for the coming months is high. Going into 2021, leading figures at Germany’s record champions spoke to club magazine “51” about what’s to come. In the last of seven parts, we sat down with board member for sport Hasan Salihamidžić.

Interview with Hasan Salihamidžić

Herr Salihamidžić, have you had any time for a breather in 2020? How do you recharge your batteries?
Salihamidžić: “There’s hardly been any breathers since March, but there are no breathers for anyone in society at the moment. The workload for players and coaches, physios and doctors, is already huge. But we have to think differently about a lot of things right now and be grateful that we can play our sport. A few quiet days with family will be enough this time.”

How much has coronavirus affected squad planning generally?
“In terms of structure, we’re planning quite normally. We scout, we analyse, we discuss positions and players. Regardless of coronavirus, we as FC Bayern have to be early with our ideas and think very creatively.”

Youngsters like Jamal Musiala, Bright Arrey-Mbi and Chris Richards are suddenly gaining first-team experience they probably wouldn’t have got so quickly otherwise. Is the coronavirus crisis also an opportunity here?
“Youth work is very important for FC Bayern – that has nothing to do with coronavirus. If a young player has the talent to play for the first team, he has it, regardless of coronavirus or not. We see the development with joy and confidence, with Jamal Musiala, with Chris Richards, with Bright, but also with Angelo Stiller. And then we’ve got Alphonso Davies, who’s still young, and also Tanguy Nianzou, who’s only 18. Something is growing there and we have to do everything at all levels to ensure that as many of those named as possible make it to the first team.”

Your goal as board member for sport was to win the Champions League in a suit. You’ve already done that two months into the position. Where do you now get your motivation from after the maximum success?
“This team is capable of defining an era. Our task is to support them and do everything we can to play attractive, successful football.”

In the sixth part of our “Big questions” series, we spoke to board member Oliver Kahn.