Hansi Flick has stood out as one of the best coaches in recent years, but few know his career as a player and what his game was like when he put on his footballer's boots.
Beginnings in Football
Hans-Dieter Flick he was born on February 24, 1965. His hometown is Heidelberg, a city with about 150,000 inhabitants located about 340 kilometers from Munich, where he spent most of his career. Flick began to stand out as a player in the youth categories, passing through several local clubs before making the leap to professional football. In 1983, he was called up by the German under-18 team, and in 1985, Bayern signed him from SV Sandhausen, a team in several youth categories.
His first coach at Bayern was Udo Lattek, with whom he debuted and quickly established himself as a starter. Flick acted as a midfielder or defensive midfielder, although he was so versatile that he played some games as a winger or right winger. His game was not very attractive since more than an organizer. He was a midfielder whose mission was to give balance to the team and help with defensive aids. He stood out for his sacrifice and ability to recover, although from time to time, he liked to attack freely. He played easy and combined short and long passes, although he was not technically gifted. He was a footballer who knew his limitations and who played for the team. Flick shared a dressing room as a player with the legendary team Brehme, Hoenes, Matthaus, and Rummenigge, and it was directed by another legendary of the benches like Jupp Heynckes
During his time at Bayern, he played a total of 104 games, scoring five goals and winning six titles with the Bavarian team. In its showcases are 4 Bundesliga, a Pokal, a German Super Cup. He also reached the final of the 1987 European Cup but lost the final to Porto and appeared in the photo of the famous backheel goal scored by Madjer. As a curiosity, he never faced FC Barcelona and did face Real Madrid. On two occasions, he crossed paths with the whites, eliminating the Madrid team with Bayern in the semifinals of the 1986-87 season and falling in the quarterfinals a year later, in 1987-88.
Cologne
After his time at Bayern, Flick joined Cologne in 1990, where he met legends such as Hassler, Littbarski, and Bodo Illgner and met Udo Lattek again With the goats team, he won another German cup, scored a goal, and played 44 games. Despite starting for Cologne, Flick had a relatively short career, as several injuries forced him to retire from professional football at just 28 years old. His time in the elite of German football lasted seven seasons, in which he played a total of 201 games in which he scored 14 goals and distributed four assists. With the German team, he did not play any official match, and his experience with the national team remained in two friendly matches with the Under 18 team in 1987 against Brazil and Argentina.
End of his career
After retiring from Cologne in 1993, Flick had a brief spell at Victoria Bammental between 1994 and 1996, where he would begin his transition to technical direction. Although his playing career was very short and was conditioned by injuries, he laid the foundations for his future and successful career as a coach, where he would reach the top of world football directing Bayern Munich and the German national team. Since 2024, he has been imposing his style of play at Barcelona, where he will try to replicate all his successes as coach of Bayern, where he achieved an unforgettable Sextete in 2020.