Peter Hermann

Franz-Peter Hermann, known throughout German football simply as Peter Hermann, was one of the most trusted assistant coaches of the modern Bundesliga era. Born on 22 March 1952 in Kleinmaischeid in Rhineland-Palatinate, he played as a technically gifted forward and midfielder before spending more than three decades on the touchline beside some of Germany's best-known managers.

Hermann's playing path ran through FV Engers, TuS Neuendorf, a brief spell at Hamburger SV, Alemannia Aachen and, from 1976, Bayer 04 Leverkusen. With Leverkusen he helped win promotion from the 2. Bundesliga Nord in 1978-79 and went on to make more than a hundred Bundesliga appearances for the Werkself. He closed his playing days in the Oberliga with VfL Hamm/Sieg and SC Julich, already beginning to coach while still on the pitch.

His coaching life was inseparable from Leverkusen. From 1989 he assisted Jurgen Gelsdorf and later served under Dragoslav Stepanovic, Erich Ribbeck, Christoph Daum, Berti Vogts, Klaus Toppmoller, Klaus Augenthaler and Michael Skibbe. He stepped in as interim head coach on several occasions, including a spell in 1996 that helped keep Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, and also led the club's amateur and reserve sides. After a year assisting Michael Oenning at 1. FC Nurnberg he returned in 2009 as Jupp Heynckes's right-hand man, a partnership that defined the later phase of his career.

When Heynckes moved to Bayern Munich, Hermann followed. In 2012-13 the pair steered Bayern to the treble of Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and Champions League. Hermann later worked as assistant at Schalke 04, Hamburger SV and Fortuna Dusseldorf, briefly taking interim charge in Dusseldorf, then rejoined Heynckes at Bayern in 2017 after a world-record release fee for an assistant coach. He also assisted Niko Kovac at Bayern, worked with Germany's youth national teams under Christian Worns, returned briefly to Leverkusen with Hannes Wolf, helped Schalke win promotion in 2022, and finished his touchline career at Borussia Dortmund under Edin Terzic before stepping down for health reasons in December 2022.

Hermann died on 19 September 2026 at the age of 74. FC Bayern Munich and other clubs where he had worked confirmed the news the same evening, with reports describing a long neurological illness. Across Leverkusen, Munich, Schalke and beyond he was remembered as the quiet organiser who understood players as well as tactics, and as Heynckes's closest friend on the touchline.