Professor Dr. Holger Broich is being criticized at FC Bayern because of the team’s physical condition. Now several of the long-time fitness boss’s colleagues are coming to the support of the kicker.
When analyzing the 2023/24 season, which ended without a title, the fitness of the players was also discussed at FC Bayern Munich, long before the last matchday. Doubts arose about the optimal physical condition of the team. Now this criticism, which included the many injuries – including numerous muscular ones – has become public.
At the heart of this is Professor Dr. Holger Broich, who is the record champion’s scientific director and head of fitness. However, the head coach is always responsible for the physical condition of the players, and the area of competence of the fitness officer is defined by him or her.
“The facts are clear: We have not performed well this year and have had too many injuries,” admits Dr. Broich (49) to kicker: “But to now single out one man and point the finger at him is very disappointing to me.”
The 49-year-old says: “Where is the question of the responsibility of the entire team, the coaches, the doctors, the physiotherapists? I find it very disappointing to now tie everything to my name. That is slander.”
Dr. Broich teaches master students in Hamburg
It is said within the team that the FCB fitness expert has warned many times that there would be many injuries if training continued to be so limited. Some players even trained independently to get fit. “If I am the only one to take the blame for the numerous injuries, that is too easy and too cheap, we are a team,” says the professor, who holds a chair for performance diagnostics and training management at the Medical School in Hamburg and teaches master’s students there.
“A bad season as well as a good one is not the fault of one person alone,” says Broich and asks himself: “Why is everything now being focused on one person? Why is only one person being criticized?”
Jupp Heynckes met Broich in 2009 at Bayer Leverkusen and worked with him for two seasons. When he returned to Munich for the 2011/12 season, he wanted to take the fitness expert with him. But Bayer 04 Leverkusen’s then sports director, Rudi Völler, declined. In 2013, after winning the treble and leaving FC Bayern, Heynckes recommended Broich by calling the then CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
Holger doesn’t deserve that.
The former football coach is particularly impressed by the employee’s work ethic. “He is the first to arrive in the morning and the last to leave the training ground in the evening,” says Heynckes. “He is incredibly hard-working and committed.” They “got along brilliantly, the cooperation worked fantastically.”
Heynckes greatly values Broich’s expertise in the field of performance diagnostics and load management, “apart from the fact that his human qualities are second to none.” Broich, says Heynckes, is “a wonderful person, communicative and friendly to the groundskeeper and the club’s top brass, as well as extremely loyal.”
The former coach points to the great successes that FC Bayern achieved during Dr. Broich’s ten years in charge, including the highlight of winning the Champions League in 2020. “That’s why I think it’s unfair that criticism is now being leveled,” stresses Heynckes: “Holger doesn’t deserve that.”
Rolfes’ career was on the brink
In daily training, he “always made his decisions in favor of the players, he knew how to assess the risk of injury for everyone prophylactically,” for example with the vulnerable Kingsley Coman, says Heynckes: “That makes him exceptional, he is a luminary in his profession.”
The former coach also mentions the case of Simon Rolfes, who had a serious knee injury. Broich warned against prematurely overexerting himself during rehab, saying that his career was at stake and that there was a risk of long-term consequences for life after his career. “Holger prevented the worst from happening,” says Heynckes.
Rolfes was diagnosed with cartilage damage in his knee at the end of January 2010, meaning he missed the entire second half of the season and also the World Cup in South Africa. “At that time, my career was in jeopardy,” says the current sports director of the current double winners. “Holger Broich designed the development program extremely meticulously and supported it in practice, so that I was able to play for another five years, in Leverkusen and in the national team.” Broich played a “huge part” in that: “I didn’t have any further injuries either, which was great.”
The rehabilitation work was “very hard” and carried out on a scientific basis. Joint tests were carried out with the Cologne Sports University, and Rolfes was also integrated into a research project on cartilage damage at the University of Düsseldorf. “Every stage of my rehabilitation was meticulously prepared, every strain meticulously planned in advance,” says the former midfielder. When the rehabilitation was over, he immediately started playing again, “and it continued without any difficulties.” Rolfes sums up: “I had total confidence in Holger’s competence. Holger saved my career.”
Müller-Wohlfahrt calls Dr. Broich “the best fitness trainer”
Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, the former team doctor of FC Bayern, knows Dr. Broich from direct cooperation. He reacted “with absolute disappointment, even with indignation” that “even a remotely negative opinion could arise” in connection with Broich. The doctor from Munich, who has been well-respected in the world of sport for decades, describes himself as a “fan of Holger, and my appreciation is based on our long-standing collaboration.” The communication between fitness and medicine “has always worked excellently,” says Müller-Wohlfahrt: “There were never any points of friction in our professional exchange.”
Müller-Wohlfahrt is leading the way during the Corona period. “At that time, Holger designed excellent training plans for each player individually. After this acute phase, the team was the best trained ever, even in international comparison, as the triumph in the 2020 Champions League proved,” says “Mull” and explains: “Holger is a top expert. He doesn’t deserve this negative treatment. As far as I can see, he is the best fitness trainer.”
Broich’s former bosses confirm these statements by wanting and wanting to bring Broich into their team. National coach Julian Nagelsmann (36) courted his services for the upcoming European Championship. “Our relationship is good,” Broich makes clear, “everything else is a lie.” Hansi Flick is luring him to his new club FC Barcelona. The fitness expert can also choose from other options. His contract with FC Bayern is permanent.
