• Former Germany coach fails to meet club's high expectations • Jupp Heynckes to take charge for remainder of season

This article is more than 11 years old

This article is more than 11 years old

Jürgen Klinsmann has been sacked as manager of Bayern Munich and replaced by Jupp Heynckes for the final five matches of the season.

Klinsmann, who took over the German champions in the summer, has failed to meet the high expectations of the Bavarian club, who won the title last season, and was dismissed after a meeting with club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, general manager Uli Hoeness and director Karl Hopfner today.

"The board has seen the minimum aim for the season come under threat with the recent results and has therefore decided to take this step," read a club statement today.

"The board thanks Jurgen Klinsmann and his coaching team for their work and wish them all the best for the future."

With five to play Bayern are lying in third place in the Bundesliga, just three points behind leaders Wolfsburg, but the recent 5-1 humbling at the hands of Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-final was viewed dimly by the club's hierarchy.

That result, compounded by Saturday's 1-0 defeat at home to Schalke – Bayern's sixth league reverse – proved sufficient for the club to part company with the 44-year-old former Germany manager.

Unsurprisingly Klinsmann described himself as "very disappointed" after what proved to be an "eventful time" with the German champions.

This will be Heynckes's second time at the club where he enjoyed a four-year spell between 1987 and 1991.