Barcelona appoint Hansi Flick as manager to replace Xavi - ESPN

Barcelona have announced the appointment of former Bayern Munich and Germany coach Hansi Flick as the club's new manager on a two-year contract.

Flick, 59, replaces Xavi Hernández, who managed his final game with the club on Sunday after being sacked last week.

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«FC Barcelona and Hansi Flick have reached an agreement for the German to become men's first team football coach until 30 June 2026,» Barça said in a statement.

Xavi, who won 2-1 at Sevilla in his final match with the club, has agreed to give up the final year of his salary, which sources told ESPN was due to be around €12 million.

However, he will be paid back a substantial part of the €2.5m he paid from his own pocket to secure his exit from his previous job with Al Sadd in 2021. The six members of his backroom staff will also be remunerated for the final year of their contracts at a cost of around €4m to Barça.

Flick has been out of work since September 2023, when he was fired by the German national team following a group-stage exit at the 2022 World Cup and a run of poor results after the tournament.

He had previously overseen great success at Bayern, winning the Champions League as part of a historic treble in 2020 before he took on the Germany job in the summer of 2021.

Barça has had long-standing interest in the German coach; ESPN reported in 2021 that club president Joan Laporta had sounded out his availability while he was still in charge of Bayern.

On that occasion, he had already committed to the Germany job, but Laporta has remained a fan and talks with Flick's camp have been constant since Xavi announced in January that he would step down.

Flick's chances of landing the Barça job appeared to end