Kathleen Krüger will leave FC Bayern after many successful years to work for Hamburger SV in the future. According to the Hamburger Abendblatt, the final details have been clarified and the transfer of the long-time Bayern manager to the Hanseatic club is about to be finalized. The 40-year-old will take on a historic role at HSV in the future
According to the Hamburger Abendblatt, Kathleen Krüger will soon be officially introduced as the new sports director of Hamburger SV, making Bundesliga history for the former professional player: Krüger will be the first woman to take over the position of sports director in the Bundesliga
According to the report, the long-time Bayern employee will receive a four-year contract with the Red Shirts. Together with Eric Huwer, she will be responsible for HSV’s operational business in future. While Claus Costa will continue to be primarily responsible for squad planning and transfers, Krüger will mainly be responsible for strategic sporting issues and will also be Costa’s superior
There were already clear indications of the change around a week ago, when the Hamburger Abendblatt reported on concrete talks between Krüger and HSV. Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund publicly confirmed the developments shortly afterwards
„Yes, we can confirm that Kathleen has informed us that she is in talks with HSV,“ explained Freund last Friday. The Austrian continued: „I can’t tell you anything else or confirm or deny this, but she has informed us about the talks.“
Bayern loses important manager
The departure of Kathleen Krüger is a painful loss for FC Bayern. The 40-year-old was held in high regard internally and was apparently even on the verge of a promotion within the club. According to reports, Krüger was to take on the role of director of professional soccer in Munich in the future. However, HSV beat the Munich club to the punch and convinced the former player to take on the even more prestigious board position
Particularly noteworthy: HSV does not have to pay a transfer fee to the German record champions for the move. Krüger has an open-ended employment contract with FC Bayern with a regular notice period, allowing the Hanseatic club to sign the experienced manager free of charge
HSV’s search for a new sporting director was recently considered to be extremely high-profile. According to the „Hamburger Abendblatt“ newspaper, those responsible also looked at Markus Krösche from Eintracht Frankfurt, Fabian Wohlgemuth from VfB Stuttgart and former DFB manager Oliver Bierhoff, among others. In the end, however, the choice fell on Krüger, who impressed with her expertise and many years of experience at FC Bayern
The post of sports director at HSV had been vacant since the departure of Stefan Kuntz in January, with Eric Huwer and Claus Costa having taken over the role in the meantime. With the appointment of Kathleen Krüger, the Hanseatic club has now apparently finally clarified its management structure – and at the same time sent a strong signal for the future.