1860 Munich mourns the death of its coaching legend, Werner Lorant, at the age of 76.

Werner Lorant died. His sister verified this to the 1860 Munich fan page. The great coach once took the Munich squad from the third division nearly to the Champions League.

Lorant had been gravely unwell for the last year and a half. The coaching legend was 76 years old.

In 1992, he took over the Munich Lions, then in the third level, and led them to the Bundesliga and Europe in two years.

After a 5-1 loss in the derby against FC Bayern, he was forced to leave in the 2001/02 season, after nine years and 363 games as coach.

Bernhard Winkler, former 1860 Munich captain, told “Die blaue 24”: “This is extremely terrible news. I attended his birthday celebration last year. He was on the way to recovery. It’s astonishing to me how rapidly it happened. I thought he would recover. Lorant was and will be the Lions’ most successful coach for a long time. He transformed a struggling brand into a club that was well accepted throughout German football.”