Bayern Munich’s restructuring of the FC Bayern campus continues.
One of Christoph Freund’s first hires as the Bavarians’ sporting director was Rene Marić as head of coach development and playing philosophy. The idea was that he would oversee the development of the coaches and ensure they play one homogenous style in the academy.
Marić would join Vincent Kompany’s staff upon the Belgian’s arrival, however, touted as the link from the Campus to the first team rather than his previous role. Whether he was
performing both duties or left his previous duties behind, we do not know.
But we know that somebody new has arrived for a very similar role. Bayern’s official website has confirmed the signing of Bernhard Seonbuchner from FC Liefering:
As part of its strategic realignment of its youth football program, FC Bayern has filled another position. Bernhard Seonbuchner, 42, joins the club from the Red Bull Academy Salzburg and will become Head of Player/Coach Development & Transition at the campus. Under the leadership of Jochen Sauer, Director of Youth Development, the UEFA Pro License holder will, together with [new Director of Sport at the Campus] Michael Wiesinger, form the sporting leadership team at the German record champions’ youth academy.
Ultimately, Seonbuchner’s title seems to suggest he will be in charge of not just coaching development but being in charge of the transition from the youth teams to the senior team. Meanwhile, Jochen Sauer, Bayern’s Head of Youth Development, explains that Seonbuchner’s arrival is partly motivated by the need for more manpower:
“When we were considering bringing Michael Wiesinger on board, it was clear to all of us that we didn’t want the responsibility for sports at the campus to fall to just one person. The experience and successes with the numerous professional debuts have shown that we need to broaden our approach and become more professional in order to meet the many challenges our young players face, especially during the transition between junior and professional levels. Bernhard Seonbuchner brings years of expertise in talent development and is the ideal partner for Michael. Working closely with both of them, we want to continue our success story and further improve our sporting performance.”
Bayern also has some background info on the former Salzburg man:
Seonbuchner has worked in youth development since 2007 – with the exception of the 2014/15 season, when he was active for the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) – exclusively at Red Bull Salzburg and FC Liefering. In the 2023/24 season, he served as sporting director at Red Bull Salzburg, and most recently as sporting director at Liefering. At the campus, he will now be responsible for the further development of the coaches and the playing philosophy, as well as mentoring the talented youngsters who will regularly train with the first team.
Finally, Seonbuchner himself opened up about the move:
“There were many good discussions with the people in charge at FC Bayern. I am looking forward to the challenge of contributing to talent development at one of the most successful clubs in Europe, as well as to the direct collaboration with Michael Wiesinger, Jochen Sauer and all colleagues at the campus.”
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