Uli Hoeness Discusses Bayern Munich Succession Plan
Uli Hoeness needed just one line to light up the Bayern Munich rumour mill.
“He is at least a candidate.”
With that, speaking to DAZN, the 74-year-old honorary president publicly placed his nephew, Stuttgart coach Sebastian Hoeness, in the frame as a future Bayern manager. No coyness, no diplomatic sidestep. Just a blunt admission that the 43-year-old’s name sits firmly on the club’s long-term radar.
Kompany’s Bayern, for now
This was not the declaration of a man itching for change. Quite the opposite.
Hoeness went out of his way to underline how impressed he is with Vincent Kompany’s early work in Munich. The Belgian has reshaped the squad, imposed an attacking style and driven Bayern back to the top of the Bundesliga table. The message from one of the club’s most powerful voices was unmistakable: the bench is not vacant.
“He can stay here for another five or ten years as far as I'm concerned,” Hoeness stressed. For Bayern, that is as close as it gets to a public vote of confidence from the family patriarch.
He credited Kompany with turning a collection of high-profile individuals into something far more coherent. “Out of a group of 15, 16 or 18 very good individual players, a homogeneous team has emerged. He has made all the players better.” In Munich, where stars are never in short supply but balance often is, that line carries weight.
Sebastian Hoeness, from relegation fight to silverware
So why talk succession at all? Because Sebastian Hoeness has forced his way into the conversation.
When he took over Stuttgart in 2023, the club were staring down the barrel of relegation. It was a rescue job, pure and simple. Two years on, Stuttgart are not just safe. They are a force. They are winners.
Under his watch, the club climbed from the brink of the second tier to a DFB-Pokal triumph in 2025. That trophy did more than fill a cabinet. It showed that Sebastian can navigate pressure, manage expectation and deliver on a big stage in a league that rarely forgives hesitation.
“I really take my hat off to him,” Uli Hoeness admitted. For a man known for his sharp tongue and high standards, that is no throwaway compliment. “Sebastian has the greatest respect from me, second only to our own coach.”
The respect is rooted in resilience. Stuttgart have lost key players, yet the project has not collapsed. Hoeness senior highlighted that trait with admiration: “He shakes himself off, carries on and always comes back. He has stabilised the club in a critical phase.” In Bundesliga terms, that is the currency Bayern value almost as much as trophies.
A familiar path back to Munich
A move to Munich, should it ever come, would not be a leap into the unknown for Sebastian Hoeness. It would be a return.
He knows Säbener Straße. He knows the corridors, the expectations, the unforgiving glare. Before stepping into the Bundesliga spotlight with Hoffenheim and then Stuttgart, he cut his teeth in Bayern’s youth ranks, coaching the U19s and the reserve team. Those years embedded him in the club’s culture and rhythm.
For Bayern, that profile is gold: a coach with modern ideas, proven in the Bundesliga, hardened by crisis management, and already fluent in the club’s internal language.
Berlin showdown: master vs. possible heir
All of this background noise now feeds into a single, compelling date: May 23 in Berlin.
Stuttgart will defend their DFB-Pokal title against Bayern Munich. On one bench, Kompany, the man Hoeness wants to keep for “five or ten years.” On the other, Sebastian Hoeness, the nephew he openly calls “at least a candidate” for the job one day.
It is more than a cup final. It is a live audition, a tactical duel framed by family ties and future planning. The current architect of Bayern’s resurgence facing the coach many in Germany now view as a natural fit for the club’s long-term future.
The whistle will decide a trophy. It might also sharpen the outlines of Bayern’s next great succession story.
