Bayern Munich fires Juergen Klinsmann

BERLIN: Bayern Munich fired Juergen Klinsmann as coach on Monday, ending his two-year contract at the defending German champions after less than a season.

Klinsmann, who coached Germany to third place at the 2006 World Cup, was told by club officials that he was dismissed with immediate effect, Bayern said in a statement posted on its Web site.

"This was a very difficult decision for us," Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said. "But the results of the past few weeks, the way in which they came about and, above all, the situation five games before the end of the season, forced us to act out of responsibility to the club."