Director of youth development: FC Bayern extends contract with Jochen Sauer

FC Bayern and Jochen Sauer have agreed a contract extension. The 50-year-old has been responsible for training the German record champions’ young talents since the FC Bayern Campus was founded in the summer of 2017. In addition to his role as director of youth development, Sauer will also take over as head of Red&Gold Football, the joint venture with Los Angeles Football Club. Here, FC Bayern would like to develop international talents more effectively in cooperation with partner clubs.

FC Bayern CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen: "After very good and purposeful discussions, I’m pleased that we are continuing - and further developing - the path we’ve taken with Jochen Sauer. The FC Bayern Campus is a central component of our plans, and we’re striving for even closer networking and greater permeability in the future. We want even more FC Bayern talents to make the transition to professional football - ideally, of course, with us. Jochen Sauer and his team work tirelessly and passionately so we can continue to write success stories that originated on our Campus."

Jochen Sauer: "Talent development at a top international club like FC Bayern is a big challenge that we’re all happy to tackle. It’s important to keep finding new, creative ways to realise our high sporting ambitions step by step. I’m pleased I’ll continue to play my part in this. My thanks go to our board of directors for their trust - and above all to our team at the FC Bayern Campus, who give their all every day to train the talents in the best possible way to prepare them for making the move to being a professional footballer at FC Bayern."

Before joining the German record champions, Sauer worked at FC Red Bull Salzburg, VfL Wolfsburg and Hertha BSC. Under his leadership, numerous young players have made the leap from the FC Bayern Campus to the senior squad, including Jamal Musiala, Josip Stanišić, Malik Tillman, Paul Wanner, Joshua Zirkzee, Arijon Ibrahimovic and, this summer, Tarek Buchmann. The Bayern reserves were promoted to League 3 in 2019 and won the title in Germany's third-highest division the following year. In addition, Bayern's youngsters celebrated winning the South German U19 championship once (2020) and the South German U17 championship twice (2018 & 2019) during this period.

The FC Bayern World Squad recently took part in the 25th anniversary of 'buntkicktgut' and handed over a €23,900 donation: