Brief history of Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich, also known as Fussball-Club Bayern München, FC Bayern Munich or FC Bayern, is a German Bundesliga club which is based in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Eleven players broke away from MTV 1879 Munich sports club to form Bayern Munich in 1900. The eleven players were led by German football legend Franz John.
Bayern Munich started playing in the South German Championship in 1926 and won its first national title against Eintracht Frankfurt in 1932. World War II which was fought between 1 September 1939 and 2 September 1945, interrupted the progress of the club but didn’t fail to bounce back stronger immediately football returned in Germany.
When the war was over and club football in West Germany was divided into five regional leagues, Bayern Munich was deemed organised enough to play in one of the top divisions known as Oberliga Süd (South). Though the club’s glory days started in the 1960s, it started having a feel of how being a successful club feels like in 1957 when it won the German Cup for the first time.
Despite winning the German Cup in 1957, Bayern Munich was not automatically admitted into the German Bundesliga when it was formed as a West German national league in 1963. Bayern waited until the 1965-1966 season to be promoted to the Bundesliga.
With the formation of one of the greatest teams ever seen in German football which included German greatest players like goalkeeper Sepp Maier, forward Gerd Müller, defender Franz Beckenbauer, forward Uli Hoeness and midfielder Breitner, they began to dominate the German Bundesliga in the late 1960s to 70s. The dreaded team won the club’s first European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1967 and in the 1968-1969 season, the team won Bayern Munich’s first German Bundesliga title.
The 1970s became even more rewarding for the club both domestically and continental. From 1974 to 1976 they won three European Cups, which is now known as UEFA Champions League, in a row.
Bayern Munich left Munich’s Olympiastadion where they played their home matches for 33 years for their newly constructed home ground known as the Allianz Arena at the beginning of the 2005–2006 season.
Since 2013, Bayern Munich has been the only club that has been winning the German Bundesliga title, making them the untouchable club in Germany and the only club that has won the national title 8 times in a row.
So far, they have won a record 30 national titles, a record 20 national cups, a record 7 German Super Cup, a record 6 Liga Poka, 8 European titles including 5 UEFA Champions League, and two international titles including one Fifa Club World Cup.
Who owns Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich is the biggest football club in Germany in all ramifications. It is also one of the biggest clubs in the world in terms of success and revenue. But, no single individual can lay claim that he/she owns the club. The club is practically run like a socialist government where the day to day running of the club is carried out by a board of stakeholders.
According to the information available on the official site of the club, 75 per cent of Bayern Munich is owned by an offshoot company of the club known as FC Bayern München eV, while the other 25 per cent is shared by three German-based companies.
That is, 8.33 per cent of Bayern Munich is owned by a sportswear manufacturing company, Adidas AG, another 8.33 per cent shares of the club is owned by an automobile company, AUDI AG, while the remaining 8.33 per cent of the club is owned by a health insurance company, Allianz SE. Hence, FC Bayern München eV, Adidas, Audi and Allianz group own Bayern Munich.
However, the club is controlled by a board which consists of representatives from the four brands that own the club. The board is headed by an elected president. The president is elected by dues-paying members of the club. While a chairman is appointed by the board members.
The chairman is directly in charge of the day-to-day running of the club and represents the club in major functions. He specifically heads the FC Bayern München eV, Bayern’s offshoot company that owns 75% stake in the club.
In the other hand, the president, through the board members, has the final say at the club and can remove the chairman. He heads the board of the club. Only the club members can remove the president and anyone can become a member of the club by paying the club’s membership fee.
The current President of Bayern Munich is a 65-year-old business administrator, Herbert Hainer. He took over from Uli Hoeness in November 2019. Before Hainer became the president of Bayern Munich, he was the CEO of Adidas Group.
While the chairman of the club is Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, a 64-year-old former footballer of the club and West Germany national team. He was a former chairman of European Club Association.
Who is the Current Bayern Munich coach as of 2020
The coach of Bayern Munich is Hans-Dieter Flick, a 55-year-old former player of the club who served as an assistant coach of World Cup-winning German national team for 8 years. Afterwards, he was appointed sporting director at the German Football Association after the 2014 World Cup until 16 January 2017
On 1 July 2017, he left the German Football Association to join German Bundesliga club, TSG Hoffenheim as the club’s managing director for sport. He left the club in less than a year, Feb 26, 2018.
Hans-Dieter Flick returned to Bayern Munich on 1 July 2019 as an assistant coach under the era of coach Niko Kovač. Unfortunately for Niko, Bayern Munich started the 2019-2020 season on a struggling note, hence he had to be sacked on 3 November 2019.
So, Flick had to step in as an interim coach of Bayern Munich. After one month of impressive results, Bayern Munich announced on 22 December 2019 that Flick has signed a permanent deal with the club which will keep him in charge of the Bavarians until 2023.
Flick took Bayern Munich from the 4th spot of the German Bundesliga table to the first spot. He ended up winning the Bundesliga for the club to make it the 8th consecutive season the club has achieved such a feat. He also led Bayern Munich to win the club’s 20th DFB-Pokal.
His biggest target for the season is to win the UEFA Champions League. The last time Bayern Munich won the European title was in 2013. They are almost in the quarter-final stage of the competition as they won Chelsea football club 0-3 at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of the round of 16. The second leg comes up on 8 August 2020.
Bayern Munich 2020 transfer Activities
Bayern Munich are more or less a very compact squad but they are not relenting in their effort to improve the squad ahead of the 2020-2021 season. They are very active in this summer transfer window as they have shown interest in a couple of world-class players including the legendary Lionel Messi.
Beyond transfer speculations, Bayern Munich landed one of the finest youngsters in Europe; they finally gave Leroy Sané the opportunity to realise his dream of playing for the club.
Sane joined Bayern Munich from Manchester City this summer for £45 million. The 24-year-old left-winger left the Premier League club after spending 4 years there. He signed a five year deal with Bayern which will expire on 30 June 2025.
The German Bundesliga champions have also landed an 18-year-old defender, Tanguy Kouassi from Paris Saint Germain. The under-18 French international who is a graduate of PSG football academy refused to extend his contract with PSG, hence, he joined Bayern Munich as a free agent. He signed a four-year contract with Bayern.
Kouassi made his first professional debut this season. He made 13 appearances in all competitions for PSG before football was halted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Another transfer deal Bayern Munich landed this summer is Alexander Nubel. The 23-year-old goalkeeper joined the Bavarians club as a free agent after he also refused to extend his contract with Schalke 04. Nubel, who is a former Germany under-21 international signed a five-year contract with Bayern Munich.
Name of current Bayern Munich players as of July 22, 2020.
| Jersey No. | Name of player | Position | Country |
| 1. | Manuel Neuer | Goalkeeper | Germany |
| 2. | Álvaro Odriozola (on loan from Real Madrid) | Defender | Spain |
| 4 | Niklas Süle | Defender | Germany |
| 5 | Benjamin Pavard | Defender | France |
| 6 | Thiago | Midfielder | Spain |
| 8 | Javi Martínez | Defender | Spain |
| 9 | Robert Lewandowski | Forward | Poland |
| 10 | Philippe Coutinho (on loan from Barcelona) | Midfielder | Brazil |
| 11 | Michaël Cuisance | Midfielder | France |
| 14 | Ivan Perišić (on loan from Inter Milan) | Forward | Croatia |
| 15 | Fiete Arp | Forward | Germany |
| 17 | DF Jérôme Boateng | Defender | Germany |
| 18 | Leon Goretzka | Midfielder | Germany |
| 19 | Alphonso Davies | Midfielder | Canada |
| 21 | Lucas Hernandez | Defender | France |
| 22 | Serge Gnabry | Midfielder | Germany |
| 24 | Corentin Tolisso | Midfielder | France |
| 25 | Thomas Müller (vice-captain) | Forward | Germany |
| 26 | Sven Ulreich | Goalkeeper | Germany |
| 27 | David Alaba | Defender | Austria |
| 29 | Kingsley Coman | Midfielder | France |
| 32 | Joshua Kimmich | Defender | Germany |
| 33 | Lars Lukas Mai | Defender | Germany |
| 36 | Christian Früchtl | Goalkeeper | Germany |
| 39 | Ron-Thorben Hoffmann | Goalkeeper | Germany |
| 10 | Leroy Sané (New Signing from Manchester City) | Midfielder | Germany |
| 13 | Alexander Nübel (New Signing from Schalke 04) | goalkeeper | Germany |
| 23 | Tanguy Kouassi (New Signing from PSG) | Defender | France |
What you need to know about Bayern new assistant coach Miroslav Klose.
Miroslav Klose was appointed the assistant coach of Bayern Munich in May 2020. He will leave Bayern Munich under 17s team to join the senior team as Hansi Flick’s assistant manager before the beginning of the 2020-2021 season.
Prior to his appointment, He was one of the coaching staff of the German national team in November 2016 but left the position in less than two years. He has been serving as Bayern’s under-17s team since 2018, two years after he retired as a professional footballer.
The 41-year-old former German striker and Fifa World Cup all-time highest goals scorer was born in Poland to Polish parents but moved with his parents to Germany when he was a child. He decided to accept German citizenship and represented German senior national football team for 13 years, scoring 71 goals in 137 appearances.
Despite retiring from international football since 2014, he still remains Germany senior national team all-time highest goals scorer. And until date, no one has been able to break his record 16 goals in four world cups.
The Bayern Munich assistant manager is happily married to Sylwia Klose since 2004. They are blessed with twin sons – Luan and Noah.
Interesting records of the new Bayern Munich assistant manager Miroslav Klose
- Klose is still the only player that has scored a total of 16 goals in FIFA World Cup.
- He is Germany national team all-time record goalscorer with 71 goals.
- He is the only player that have four medals from four different World Cups in a row.
- He is the only male footballer that has played in four World Cup semi-finals in a row.
- Klose, Teófilo Cubillas and Thomas Müller are the only three players that have scored at least 5 goals each in two different World Cups.
- The new Bayern Munich assistant manager is among the 8 players in Serie A history that scored 5 goals in a single Serie A match.
- Klose has a record of scoring more goals using his head in a single world cup edition than any other player in the World Cup (5 headed goals in 2002). He has scored 58 of his 259 career club goals with his head.
- He won the World Cup with Germany in 2014, finished second in 2002 and third in 2006 and 2010.
Klose started his career at FC 08 Homburg, he played in the Bundesliga for Kaiserslautern, Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich, and in Serie A for Lazio.
Why Robert Lewandowski should have won this year’s Ballon d’Or
When the France Football Magazine, the owners of the most prestigious football award in the world, Ballon d’Or announced that the award would not be held in 2020 for the first time in 64 years, most football fans across the world began to cry foul, saying that German Bundesliga striker, Robert Lewandowski, was robbed of the award this year.
Though the organisers of the award said they had to cancel it for this year because the conditions for holding the award was not met due to the coronavirus pandemic, yet, the argument has been that no player in the world has been able to achieve as much as Robert Lewandowski has done for Bayern Munich in the 2019-2020 season.
In the last 12 years, the award has been about Barcelona football icon, Lionel Messi and Juventus talisman, Cristiano Ronaldo. Both players have been nominated for the award in a record 12 times and out of the 12 nominations, they have both won 11, six for Messi and 5 for Ronaldo.
So far this season, when you compare the performance of Messi and that of Ronaldo in their different clubs and leagues, they have not performed as good as Bayern Munich’s Lewandowski. For instance, so far this season, the 31-year-old Polish striker has scored 34 goals in 31 German Bundesliga appearances. He has also made 4 assists in the Bundesliga alone to set the record of scoring the highest number of goals in a single season as a foreigner in Germany and also won the league’s highest goal scorer award.
In the UEFA Champions League this season, he has made just 6 appearances and has scored 11 goals so far. He has also made 2 assists. Bayern Munich is still very much in the race as they defeated Chelsea 0-3 in the first leg of the round of 16 at Stamford Bridge. They will host the Premier League club on August 8 for the second leg of the round.
Altogether this season, Lewandowski has scored 51 goals in all competitions in just 42 appearances and has also made 6 assists. His effort has helped Bayern Munich to win the German Bundesliga title for the 8th time and the 20th DFB-Pokal for the club.
In the other hand, the current holder of the Ballon d’Or, Lionel Messi has scored 30 goals in all competitions and has made 26 assists in 42 appearances. Despite his effort this season, he was not able to help his club to retain the Spanish La Liga title. The club lost the title to Real Madrid. Barcelona is also struggling to qualify for the quarter-final stage of the Champions League. They drew 1-1 away in the first leg of the round of 16 to Napoli and they will host them on August 8 for the second leg.
While in the case of Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo, he has scored 34 goals in all competitions this season and has made 7 assists in 42 appearances. His club is sitting on the number one spot on the league table and still have three matches to go before the season ends in Italy.
However, Juventus are struggling to qualify for the quarter-final stage of the UEFA Champions League. They lost 0-1 away to Lyon in the first leg of the round of 16 and they will host the French club on 7 August for the second leg.
Based on these, Robert Lewandowski has done enough to win his first Ballon d’Or this year. The farthest he has gone in the award was 4th behind Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar in 2015. Unfortunately for him, that opportunity has been taken away in 2020, no thanks to the coronavirus pandemic.
