New Delhi: Six months into his managerial tenure, Vincent Kompany’s Bayern Munich team leads the Bundesliga by eight points and is poised to reclaim the championship they lost to Bayer Leverkusen the previous season. After Bayern finished the 2023–24 season in third place, 18 points behind the leaders under Thomas Tuchel, their lowest league finish since 2010–11, the 38-year-old coach was hired. Kompany is only the second black manager in any of Germany’s professional football leagues and the first black manager in the Bundesliga.
He is not, however, the first member of his family to become a black pioneer. Pierre, Kompany’s father, fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Belgium in 1975 and became the first black mayor of Belgium in 2018 after winning the election for the municipality of Ganshoren in Brussels. He and others are “galvanized by the potential for success” of Kompany, who he hopes will “pave the way” for others, according to Troy Townsend, the former head of development at Kick It Out.
The journey to Munich
Bayern Munich coach Vincent Kompany gives instructions to Bayern Munich’s Michael Olise during the match (REUTERS/Angelika Warmuth)
After serving as head coach of his childhood team, Anderlecht, Kompany received praise for leading Burnley back to the Premier League in 2022–2023 with a potent style of possession-based, offensive game. Along with Nuno Espirito Santo, the manager of Nottingham Forest, Kompany was one of just two black managers in the English top division during his Premier League season. However, after the heights that he managed to achieve with Anderlecht, it seemed like too muh early success for Kompany and soon he was humbled after his Burnley side got relegated last season.
When Burnley got relegated in their first season back in the top flight, Kompany’s lack of pragmatism and refusal to change his strategy even when the results were poor were criticized. However, it didn’t take long for Bayern to take a bold decision and decide to put him in the list of candidates to replace Thomas Tuchel. Seb Stafford-Bloor, a German football journalist, feels it is easy to suggest that he “failed upwards” by accepting the position at Munich.
He likens Kompany’s hiring to the hiring of Jurgen Klopp by Borussia Dortmund in 2008 after the latter had guided Mainz to Bundesliga relegation the year before. In contrast to Tuchel, whose sporting director Max Eberl is in charge of transfers, Stafford-Bloor thinks Kompany was hired in part because he was prepared to embrace the realities of the German powerhouses’ administrative system. According to Stafford-Bloor, the club was searching for a candidate who would feel at ease being “the next man in that chain” after that encounter.
But in addition to Kompany’s readiness to operate in a hierarchy, Stafford-Bloor thinks his reputation among the team’s younger players was a significant factor.
History maker at Bayern
After becoming the first black manager to work in the Bundesliga, Kompany is now poised to win it and create even more history. Despite the fact that black managers must work “twice as hard” for opportunities, anti-racism activist Troy Townsend thinks Kompany has long been seen as a leader. Townsend claimed that long before the Belgian entered management, Komapy was discussed as a potential leader. Everyone could see the substance that poured out of Vincent once he was promoted to captain.
If we talk about Kompany, he is praised for his leadership, his ability to rally others, and his ability to use words that may propel you forward. It just comes out naturally for him and a lot has to do with his legendary time at Manchester City as the club captain. A true leader who is commanding enough to earn the respect of the people around him.
Townsend said that Kompany might be paving the way for a new generation of black managers capable of sweeping not only the Premier League but also Europe and that makes a huge statement to be the first in the Bundesliga.
He further states, “I don’t even see a lot of black assistant managers in play at the moment, right across Europe. So, we are almost galvanised by the potential of success of the young manager, early in his managerial journey, which will then pave the way and open doors for others.
“I am sure Vincent would know that, he is a very meticulous guy. He’ll know his heritage and know how important it will be for the next breed of black and brown managers that he is successful.”
Bayern Munich’s signing of Vincent Kompany diversifies top-level football management. As one of the few black coaches to take charge of a European giant, Kompany is setting an example for aspiring black managers while navigating the pressures of leading one of the world’s biggest clubs. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
