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Austria coach Ralf Rangnick confirms Bayern Munich contact

9h ago
Soccer News (AP)

MUNICH (AP) - Austria coach Ralf Rangnick has confirmed he is a candidate to take over at Bayern Munich next season.

"There has been contact from Bayern Munich," Rangnick told Austrian website 90minuten.at in an interview that was picked up by German media on Wednesday.

The German coach said he has informed the Austrian soccer federation about Bayern's interest but "at the moment there is no reason for me to deal with it intensively or specifically."

Asked when that moment would be, Rangnick replied, "when Bayern would say, 'We want you.' And then I would have to ask myself, 'Do I want this at all?'"

Bayern is looking for a new coach with Thomas Tuchel poised to leave the German powerhouse at the end of the season.

After missing out on the Bundesliga title, Bayern faces the prospect of a first trophyless season since 2012. Tuchel's team is still in contention in the Champions League, where it faces Real Madrid in the semifinals.

Rangnick has emerged as one of the favorites to take over from Tuchel at Bayern, which has suffered the ignominy of three high-profile rejections in recent weeks.

Xabi Alonso stayed with his Bayer Leverkusen team that beat Bayern to the German title, former Bayern coach Julian Nagelsmann extended his contract with the German national team through to the 2026 World Cup, then Unai Emery, another reported candidate, opted to stay with Aston Villa on Tuesday.

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After a troubled six-month stint at Manchester United ended in 2022, Rangnick has restored his reputation with some standout results as coach of Austria.

Rangnick's team qualified with ease for the European Championship, where Austria will play France, Poland and the Netherlands in the group stage. Austria followed up with a statement win over Nagelsmann's Germany in a friendly in November and with a 6-1 demolition of Turkey last month.

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