FC Bayern Munich is a German sports club based in Munich, the capital of the state of Bavaria. Bayern Munich is one of the most successful clubs in football history. With 2 Intercontinental Cups, 4 European Champions League titles, 1 UEFA Cup title, 1 Cup Winners' Cup title, 20 national championships, and 13 German Cups, Bayern Munich is Germany's foremost football club. Bayern is a membership based club and with more than 135,000 members, the third largest in the world after SL Benfica (the largest, according to the official Guinness Book of World Records) and FC Barcelona.
Bayern also maintains departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling and table tennis.
The Club and its Vicinity
Bayern is one of three professional football clubs in Munich. Bayern's main local rival is TSV 1860 Munich, who were the more successful club in the 1960s, winning a cup and a championship. 1860 have since moved between the first and second divisions. 1860 are often referred to by sections of the Bayern support as "gymnasts", insinuating a lack of footballing pedigree. The rivalry has, at least from a Bayern point of view, lost importance over the last decade, reflecting the lopsided state of the achievements of the two clubs and the absence of players for whom local grudges would still matter. 1860 is considered more working-class, and therefore suffers from a diminishing fan base in a city where the manufacturing sector is declining whilst tertiary industries are booming.
The SpVgg Unterhaching from the semi-rural southern outskirts of town is the third force. Sensationally, they made it to the Bundesliga in 1999, and managed to stay in the top flight for a second season. Their last were the beneficiaries on this occasion. Since then their focus has been on fending off relegation from the second division rather than returning to the Bundesliga. Their audience is more local with a spot of "cult" following.
Bayern is considered the establishment club, which is reflected by their board being stacked with business leaders and the Bavarian prime minister from the Christian Social Union party, which has dominated Bavarian politics since World War II. Their following is mainly recruited from the aspiring middle class and regional Bavaria. A large proportion of their supporters have to travel up to 200km (ca. 120 miles) regularly, to the club's home matches, thus matches on weekday evenings attract lower attendance. Bayern has been always famous for their arrogance in their appearance and this has led to a situation where the club is either liked or disliked in Germany.
These days Bayern considers itself a national club, which is reflected in polls determining them as both the most popular and most loathed club all over the country. Bayern's main rivals are always the clubs who put up the strongest fight against its national dominance. In the 1970s this was Borussia Mönchengladbach, in later years this category has expanded to include Hamburger SV and Werder Bremen. In the last decade or so, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen have emerged as the most ardent opponents. Recently Schalke 04, and again Bremen have been the main challengers, but only with limited success. In the German Football Association Cup Tournament, or DFB Pokal Alemannia Aachen has become something of a thorn, but for the most part for Bayern, the real rivals these days are the great clubs of Europe.
Organization and Finance
Professional football at Bayern is run by the spin-off organization FC Bayern München AG. AG is short for Aktiengesellschaft, and Bayern is run like a joint stock company, a company whose stock are not listed on the public stock exchange, but is privately owned. 90% of FC Bayern München AG is owned by the club, the FC Bayern München e. V. (e. V. is short for Eingetragener Verein, which translates into "Registered Association") and 10% by sports goods marketers Adidas, which are also a major sponsor of the club. Adidas acquired its shares in 2002 for €77m.
Among the main advertising partners of the club are Deutsche Telekom (jersey rights), Audi, Siemens, Lufthansa airlines and Coca-Cola. In previous years the jersey rights were held by Adidas (1974-78), Magirus Deutz and Iveco (trucks / 1978-84), Commodore (computers / 1984-89) and Opel (1989-2002)
The President of the club is Franz Beckenbauer. He is also chairman of the supervisory board of the AG. The Chairman of the executive board of the AG is Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, also a former player of the club. However, most of the actual power is exercised by another former player, Uli Hoeness, who is officially deputy chairman of the executive board of the AG; his position is best described as general manager. He has been in office since 1979.
Stadium
Before 1925 Bayern had played at various premises, one of their earlier grounds sporting the town's first grandstand.
From 1925 they shared the Grünwalder Stadion with 1860 Munich. Until World War II the stadium was owned by 1860 Munich, and is still colloquially known as Sechzger ("Sixtier") Stadium nowadays. It was destroyed during the war, and efforts for refurbishment ended up as a patchwork. Conclusions about its state can be drawn from the fact that the stadium did not host a single German international match after WWI, despite Munich being Germany's third largest city. Bayern's record crowds according to conflicting sources, were either 48000 in 1948, or 52000 in 1961 in matches against 1. FC Nürnberg. In the Bundesliga era the stadium had a maximum capacity of 44000 which was reached on several occasions. As was the case at most of this period's stadia, the vast majority of the stadium was given over to terracing.
For the Olympic Games of 1972 the city of Munich built the Olympic Stadium. The stadium, still highly impressive with its architectural lightness, was inaugurated in the last Bundesliga match of the 1971-72 season, drawing a capacity crowd of 79,000, which was reached on numerous occasions. The stadium was, in its early days, considered to be one of the foremost stadia in the world and played host to numerous major finals, such as that of 1974 FIFA World Cup. In the years to follow the stadium underwent several modifications, such as an increase in seating space from approximately 50% to ca. 66%. Eventually the stadium had a capacity of 63,000 for national matches, and 59,000 for international occasions, e.g. European Cup competitions. Many people, however, began to feel that the stadium was too cold in winter, with half the audience exposed to the weather due to lack of cover. A further complaint was the distance between the spectators and the pitch, the stadium betraying its track and field heritage. Modification of the stadium proved impossible as it would have interfered with its heritage listed architecture.
In 2002 Bayern and TSV 1860 jointly undertook the construction of a new stadium, designed purely for football resulting in the modern Allianz Arena, located on the northern outskirts of Munich. It has been in use since the beginning of the 2005-06 season, while its initial capacity of 66,000 fully covered seats has since been increased for matches on national level to 69,900 by transforming 3,000 seats in a ratio 2:1 to standing places. The most interesting feature of the stadium is the translucent outer layer, which can be illuminated in different colours for impressive effects. The first player to score a goal in it was Owen Hargreaves against Borussia Mönchengladbach in their 3-0 win.
Training facility
FC Bayern Munich training facilities, for both the professional and the Junior Team, are located at the Bayern Munich Headquarters. There are four grass pitches, one of which has undersoil heating, one artificial grass field and a multi-functional sports hall.
The players' quarters, which opened in 1990, offers a big dressing room, a massage room, a doctor's surgery room, a relaxation bath, a whirlpool, a state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre and a conference room with screening facilities for video analysis.
One visible component of this facility is the club's Youth House, which houses up to 13 rising young stars from outside the city, working on their development as footballers as part of Bayern's highly successful Junior Team. The value of this particularfacility has been demonstrated by Bayern's capture of Germany's senior youth championship in 2001 and 2002, and the emergence of stars such as Paolo Guerrero and Owen Hargreaves, both former residents of the Youth House.
History
Bayern Munich was founded in 1900 by members of a Munich gymnastics club. The club played its first games in the regional Bayern league. Bayern's first success came in 1926 in the form of the championship of southern Germany, an achievement repeated two years later. Their first national honour was gained in 1932, winning the German championship by defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in the final. The advent of the Hitler regime put an abrupt end to Bayern's development. The president and the coach, both of whom were Jewish, left the country. Many others in the club also saw themselves purged. In the following years, Bayern, taunted as the "Jew's club", decayed into irrelevance.
After the war Bayern became a member of the southern conference of the German first division, which was split five ways at that time, the Oberliga Süd. Bayern struggled, and in 1955 suffered the ignominy of relegation. The following season the club returned to the Oberliga and even won the German Cup for the first time, beating Fortuna Düsseldorf 1-0 in the final. The club progressed to become one of the better sides of the league, but struggled financially, verging on bankruptcy at the end of the 1950s. Manufacturer Roland Endler provided the necessary funds and was rewarded with four years at the helm of the club. In 1963 the Oberligas in Germany were consolidated to one national league, the Bundesliga. Bayern were denied membership, but gained promotion two years later, fielding a team with young talents like Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Müller and Sepp Maier - who would later be collectively referred to as the axis.
In their first Bundesliga season Bayern finished third and also won the German Cup, qualifying for the European Cup Winners Cup, which they won in the following year in a dramatic final against Scottish club Rangers, when Franz "the Bull" Roth scored the decider in a 1-0 extra time victory. In 1967 Bayern retained the German Cup, but slow overall progress saw a new coach, Branko Zebec take over. He replaced Bayern's offensive style of play with a more disciplined approach, and in doing so achieved the first league and cup double in Bundesliga history, using only 13 players throughout the season.
1970 saw a new coach, Udo Lattek, taking charge. After winning the cup in his first season he led Bayern to their third German championship. The deciding match in the 1971-72 season against Schalke 04 was the first match in the brand new Olympic Stadium, and was also the first live televised match in Bundesliga history. Bayern swept Schalke away 5-1 and thus claimed the title, also setting several records, including points gained and goals scored. Bayern also won the next 2 championships, but the zenith was the triumph in the 1974 European Champions Cup final against Atlético Madrid, which Bayern won 4-0 after a replay. In the following season the team was unsuccessful domestically, but defended their European title by defeating Leeds United in the final when "Bull" Roth and Müller secured victory with their late goals. A year later in Glasgow, AS Saint-Étienne were defeated by another Franz Roth goal and Bayern became the third club to win the trophy in 3 consecutive years. The final trophy won by Bayern in this era was the Intercontinental Cup, in which Brazilian club Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte were defeated over two legs.
The 1980s were a period of off-field turmoil for Bayern, with many changes in personnel and financial problems. On the field, the Bundesliga title was won in 1980 and 1981, but two trophyless seasons followed, after which former coach Udo Lattek returned. Bayern won the 1984 cup final, then went on to win 5 championships in 6 seasons, including a double in 1986. However, European success was elusive during the decade; Bayern only managed to claim the runners-up spot in the European Cup in 1982 and 1987. Bayern's form dipped after their 1990 championship win, the club finishing just five points above the relegation places in 1991/92. Success returned when Franz Beckenbauer took over for the 2nd half of the 1993-94 season, winning the Championship again after a 3 year gap. Beckenbauer was then appointed club president, but his successors as coach did not meet expectations. During this time Bayern's players frequently appeared in the gossip pages of the press rather than the sports pages, resulting in the nickname FC Hollywood. Franz Beckenbauer returned as coach, and led his team to victory in the 1996 UEFA Cup, beating Bordeaux in the final.
From 1998-2004 Bayern were coached by Ottmar Hitzfeld, who became the most successful Bayern coach of all time. In Hitzfeld's first season, Bayern won the Bundesliga and came agonisingly close to winning the Champions League, losing 2-1 to Manchester United conceding two goals in injury time after leading for most of the match. The 1999-2000 season resulted in Bayern winning their third league and cup double. A third consecutive Bundesliga title followed in 2001, won in a finish on the final day of the league season. Days later, Bayern won the Champions League for the fourth time after a 25 year gap, defeating Valencia CF on penalties. The 2001-02 season finished trophyless for Bayern in the Bundesliga, but they won the Intercontinental Cup for the second time. But a season later Bayern won their fourth double, winning the league title by a record margin. Hitzfeld's reign ended in ignominious fashion in 2004, with Bayern underperforming, including a cup defeat by 2nd division Alemannia Aachen.
Prior to the start of the 2005-06 season, Bayern moved from the Olympic Stadium to the new Allianz Arena, which the club shares with TSV 1860. In summer 2006 TSV 1860 Munich had to sell its party of the Allianz Arena to Bayern Munich due to a financial crisis. Bayern Munich now is the single owner of the Arena but both clubs hope that TSV 1860 Munich will repurchase its parts as soon as possible.
The current Bayern manager is Ottmar Hitzfeld, who returned to Munich in January 2007 after Felix Magath was sacked. In his first term at Bayern between 1998 and 2004 he won 4 Bundesliga titles, two DFB Pokals and the 2000-01 UEFA Champions League.
In the current season, they are adrift off the top of the table. They have finished fourth with 60 points and are out of the running for a UEFA Champions League spot. The UEFA Cup will be their main European campaign next season. Ottmar Hitzfeld has had to endure mounting injury concerns. He has, however, stated that Bayern will be in a busy mood during the summer, as he seeks to rebuild a stronger team. With the signings of Luca Toni, Marcell Jansen, Jan Schlaudraff, Hamit Altintop and Jose Ernesto Sosa, Bayern are looking for more players to bolster their squad. Owen Hargreaves looks on the verge of signing for Manchester United, Claudio Pizarro and Ali Karimi are set to leave while Hasan Salihamidzic has agreed to a contract with Juventus, and Mehmet Scholl is retiring having scored in the last game of the season.
On May 3rd, sueddeutsche.de reported that Bayern along with President Beckenbauer have expressed interest in perhaps acquiring 19-year old Bosnian sensation Arminho from FK Željezničar.
source: wikipedia.org GNU Free Documentation License
