He began his managerial career as player-manager of fourth-division club Victoria Bammental. He was later appointed permanently, and won the UEFA Champions League that season, completing the club's second continental treble. In , he was appointed manager of Spanish club Barcelona. During his playing career, he was a midfielder who played matches for Bayern Munich and scored five goals between and His last spell as a footballer was with Victoria Bammental from until Flick never played for the Germany national football team , but he made two appearances for the Germany under team , in the group stage of the UEFA European Under Championship on 15 and 17 May , in a 1—0 win over Sweden and in a 3—1 win over Bulgaria , respectively.
At the end of the —99 season, the club was relegated to the Verbandsliga Baden , but he remained their coach for one more season. After four unsuccessful attempts to reach the 2. Bundesliga , he was released from duties on 19 November Flick was named the assistant coach for Germany on 23 August Flick was appointed sporting director of Hoffenheim , the team he had previously coached, at the start of the —18 season. In April , Bayern Munich gave Flick a new contract lasting until On 17 April , Flick announced that he had told the club he wanted to leave at the end of the season.
Flick left Bayern with one of the greatest winning records in modern football history. In the FIFA World Cup , Germany was eliminated in the group stage for the second time in a row, as they finished third in their group, despite winning their final match 2—4 against Costa Rica. Flick was sacked on 10 September , a day after a 4—1 loss in a friendly against Japan, the team's third defeat in a row.
Flick won his first league match as Barcelona manager on 17 August , securing a 1—2 comeback victory against Valencia at the Mestalla , breaking Barcelona's two-year streak of 0—0 draws on matchday 1. While in charge of Bayern Munich, Flick developed the name 'Flicki-Flaka' in the media to characterize the mixed gegenpressing and possession based style of football the team played. Flick consistently deployed a 4—2—3—1 formation at Bayern Munich featuring a high defensive line that encourages their double pivot and full-backs to adopt positions where they can press the ball as it approaches the midfield third, and to screen and block against switches of play.
Another tactic that Flick uses to create space on one side is to begin the play on one side of the field and gradually draw the opposition to shift to the ball side.
