Bayern Munich sack coach Klinsmann

Jürgen Klinsmann

Bayern Munich have booted out coach Juergen Klinsmann after less than a year on the job, following a string of poor results.Klinsmann is to be replaced by Jupp Heynckes, who coached Bayern between 1987 and 1991. Heynckes is set to remain through the remaining five match weekends of the season. Klinsmann joined Bayern this season on a two-year contract, but has come under intense pressure recently due to the team's poor form.

Klinsmann thanks "for an exciting time"

That intensified after Bayern lost 1-0 at home to Schalke on Saturday, leaving the defending champions in third place."Of course, I am very disappointed at the moment," said Klinsmann in a statement on the Bayern website.

"Nevertheless, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Bayern Munich, the fans, the trainers, the players and my colleagues for an exciting time."

"We have laid the foundations for the future. I still believe that the team can be German champions this season."

Championship hopefuls

Indeed, with just five matches left in the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich could still win the league title; as it stands right now, they're just three points behind table-topping Wolfsburg. However, before the season started they were heavy favourites to win comfortably.

There have been on-again, off-again rumors of Klinsmann's departure ever since the Bayern season got off to a disappointing start.

Klinsmann, who along with assistant coaches Martin Vasquez and Nick Theslof, will leave with immediate effect, was told of the decision in a meeting with Bayern team manager Uli Hoeness and chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge on Monday.

"We did not come to this decision lightly," Rummenigge said in a statement.

"But the results of the past weeks, the way in which they came about and above all, the situation we find ourselves in five games before the end of the season forced us to act out of a sense of responsibility to the club.

Heynckes returns from Bayern's past

"In Jupp Heynckes and Hermann Gerland, we have two experienced coaches who will take over the running of the team until the end of the season." Having guided Germany to third at the 2006 World Cup, Klinsmann's Bayern contract was set to run until June 30, 2010, but he only lasted ten months in his first role in charge of a domestic team and lost seven of his 29 league games.