We’ll be giving you an insight into the work of various people who are part of the Bayern backroom team in Doha and explain what they do. Part 3 is with team manager Bastian Wernscheid.
“Our job is to create the optimal conditions for the players, coaches and backroom staff,” says Bastian Wernscheid of his role. He’s the team manager for Bayern’s first team, there at the training camp, for Bundesliga, DFB Cup and Champions League games, and is part of the WhatsApp group with the players – it sounds like a dream for many fans. The job is very varied, requiring many abilities to do it right. “The most important thing from my perspective is a mix of footballing expertise, financial understanding and definitely also people skills,” the 32-year-old explains. The former footballer came through the youth academy at Köln before moving into the club’s marketing department. He then joined Bayern’s sponsorship team in 2017. He took on his current role in managing the first team in 2021.
Bastian Wernscheid is in charge of everything that happens with the team, from Munich to Doha and all travelling.
Team management at Bayern
“Kathleen and I are in charge of all administrative issues, organisation in the first team and their planning,” Wernscheid explains of his day-to-day duties. Kathleen Krüger has been working with the team for over 10 years and heads up the management department. The pair work together closely with the team, coaches, sporting management and club management. At Säbener Straße, they have their own offices in the first-team building directly above the changing rooms and next to the coaching offices and physio rooms – “There’s real hustle and bustle,” according to Wernscheid. Out in Doha, they share a room with the video analysts in the hotel. “But here in Doha we’re out more than we’re at our desks,” he adds. “There’s normally always one of us there, no matter where the team is.”
Planning the training camp
To make sure the training camp goes smoothly, the team management began planning back in summer 2022. Together with head coach Julian Nagelsmann and his staff, every day was structured, which was more difficult than in previous years due to the World Cup and players having different holidays. “After two years without a winter training camp, we’re pleased to be back in Doha, since we’ve got good conditions here,” Wernscheid said. “The hotel, the pitches, the climate are all right.” Once the basic framework is in place, Krüger and Wernscheid inform the other relevant departments involved in the planning: the travel office (booking hotels and flights), marketing (sponsors) or club media (content). But ultimate responsibility for everything lies with the team management.
Wernscheid and Krüger after winning the Bundesliga in 2021. Krüger leads the team management at Bayern.
Routine in Doha
“We’re sort of the bottle neck in the club, the interface between the first team and the entire travelling party,” Wernscheid explains. Departments such as communications, club media or sponsoring depend on the fact that no information falls by the wayside. Krüger and Wernscheid created a schedule for the training camp beforehand and adapt the plans daily as needed while there. They always sit down with the coaching staff around lunchtime to finalise the plans for the afternoon and following day. On this day, they decide to cancel the running session for the next morning due to workload management, with the players sometimes training up to three times a day in Doha. Further communication with the players is then handled either by head coach Nagelsmann in group meetings or by the team management, as with many organisational issues, via a WhatsApp group consisting only of the players, Krüger and Wernscheid.
After lunch, Wernscheid and Krüger have defined a daily slot in which the players are available for marketing and media appointments. At 4pm, a sportsman's meal is ready for the players, and Nagelsmann can also spontaneously schedule meetings, or the players make individual appointments with the physiotherapists. Wernscheid and Krüger are permanently available, have to be flexible and decisive.
Get to know more about Krüger, the strong woman behind the strong team
Daily work
“Our work at the training camp basically consists of two parts,” Wernscheid explains. On the one hand, there are the to-dos on site. Krüger and he are the contact persons for all processes within the team, the contacts with the hotel and the Aspire Academy or for ad hoc issues. If, for example, a player stops training due to workload management, appointments may have to be rescheduled with him. If necessary, the two of them arrange for alternatives at short notice. In doing so, they always make sure that the appointments off the pitch are always in the right proportion to the players' sporting workload.
Wernscheid and Krüger alternate on matchdays and are also in action during the team's substitutions.
In addition, Wernscheid's work in Doha is already focused on the time after the training camp, especially the upcoming training weeks and matchdays. “If there’s no matchday, no trip abroad or no training camp, we naturally also have a kind of classic office job,” the 32-year-old explains. So the time together in Doha is already being used to discuss other topics. In the evening, for example, board member for sport Hasan Salihamidzic, technical director Marco Neppe, the coaching team, Krüger and he sit down to plan the next few weeks and the summer preparations for 2023/24. Things always move forward, with the second half of this season after the camp followed by the next pre-season. That's how FC Bayern works, and that's also the challenge for the team management department. Things never stop.
🔴⚪ Find parts 1 and 2 of our series here;
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