Bayern confirm interest in Van Gaal

German champions Bayern Munich confirmed their interest in Dutch coach Louis van Gaal but said he was only one of several candidates to take over from next season.

Bayern sacked coach Juergen Klinsmann last week after 10 months following a string of disappointing results and heavy defeats that led to them being eliminated from the Champions League and the German Cup and failing to top the Bundesliga.

Former Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes is replacing Klinsmann for the remainder of the season but Bayern said a new coach would take over from July 1.

"Van Gaal is one of them (candidates)," Bayern general director Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told the Munich newspaper tz. "But there are several other candidates."

Disciplinarian van Gaal, who has coached Barcelona, Ajax and the Dutch national side, steered outsiders AZ Alkmaar to the Dutch title this season.