At the end of his adventure in Munich, in which he won seven titles in 19 months, Hans-Dieter "Hansi" Flick made a courageous decision.

He canceled two men who are not really canceled as football coaches: Joan Laporta and Florentino Pérez, the presidents of the Spanish super clubs FC Barcelona and Real Madrid.

Christopher Meltzer

Sports correspondent in Munich.

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    They were so enraptured by Flick and the way how quickly and beautifully FC Bayern blossomed again under his care that they wanted to entrust him with their teams, which include many of the best and most expensive players in the world. The Catalan Laporta, it says in the kicker, even tried to charm him in a video conversation. And although Flick knows that such men usually don't ask a second time, he has probably explained to them politely, as always, that there is currently only one answer to the question of his future. It's not called Barcelona or Madrid, it's called the national team.

    On Tuesday morning, Hansi Flick, 56 years old, signed a contract at the headquarters of the German Football Association (DFB) in Frankfurt, which makes him the next national coach.

    He will take over the nation's most important sports team this summer and should lead it to at least the next two major tournaments: the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and, above all, the 2024 European Championship in his own country.

    “I'm really looking forward to it,” says Flick.

    And you are probably not exaggerating if, after 15 years of Joachim Löw, you now claim: It is no different among German football fans.

    In Munich he argued about competencies

    There are several reasons why Flick is now returning to the team in which he first came into the public eye as a coach as Löw's assistant, but one should be emphasized in particular: He is a person of harmony. At the DFB, where he says he has a “trustworthy partner” in Oliver Bierhoff, unlike at FC Bayern, he doesn't have to argue with people in power every day about his skills.

    Of course there are also some of them at the DFB.

    And if Flick really wants to change something there - as sports director he couldn't do that between 2014 and 2017 - he will also have to be prepared to have less harmonious discussions.

    In such debates, he now has a big advantage: He is no longer the Hansi who came up with the free kick and corner kick tricks for Jogi before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, but the Hansi who won the Champions League.

    And if, contrary to all expectations, it doesn't work for him and the national team?

    A few days ago, Flick revealed that he had started learning a new language: Spanish.