Bayern Munich

Titles: Bundesliga Champions: 1932, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003

German Cup Winners: 1957, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1998, 2000, 2003

Champions League winners: 2001(Formerly known as European Cup): Winners 1974, 1975, 1976
Eurpean Cupwinners Cup: 1967
UEFA-Cup winnersl: 1996

World Club Champions 1976 und 2001

Most famous players:

Franz Beckenbauer, Sepp Maier, Gerd Müller, Paul Breitner, Uli Hoeneß, Georg Schwarzenbeck, Karl Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Matthäus, Michael Ballack, Oliver Kahn.

Success and professionalism

Germany’s third largest city has a world famous football team: Bayern Munich. For over thirty years now Bayern Munich has been indisputably Germany`s top football club, setting high standards in terms of success and professionalism which the other German clubs generally find hard to keep up with. One of the club's principles under the shrewd guidance of managing director Uli Hoeness has been sound and sensible financing. With club president Franz Beckenbauer at the helm and director Karl Heinz Rummenigge Bayern is in good hands.

Bayern has a great number of fan clubs all across Germany. However, due to the club's dominance of the Bundesliga, there are also many supporters in Germany who like to see Bayern lose.

Is it just a coincidence that the two men associated with Bayern`s fortunes are both called Franz? The leader of the eleven spirited rebels who met to form FC Bayern in the Gisela Restaurant in Munich on the night of 27th February 1900, was a certain Franz John who was responsible for the breakaway from MTV 1879.

John also gave this 'cavalier' club its first individual touch.

In the early days, people recognised the Bayern players, then known as Schwabinger Bayern, by their straw hats.

Today, nicknamed FC Hollywood, Bayern Munich always provide a good story for Germany`s boulevard press.

Local rivals 1860 Munich are more the working man's club.

Bayern`s ascent to world fame began in the mid-sixties when supporters became aware of an elegant young defender who wore the number 5 jersey. His name: Franz Beckenbauer. Not in his wildest dreams could Franz John have imagined that his team would one day be German champions, European Cup Champions and even World Club Championship winners. Nor could he have imagined that nearly a century later, on a mild spring day in 1999, Beckenbauer would meet the world's leading heads of state, and that British prime minister, Tony Blair, would whisper to him that he was the most famous person present.

Along with goal-scoring legend Gerd Müller, who was nicknamed "Der Bomber" and goalkeeper Sepp Maier, Beckenbauer became a world star very early in his career. These three players formed the backbone of the German national team that was to become European Champions in 1972 and World Champions in 1974. By then the club had provided three more internationals for the 1974 World Cup side, namely left-back Paul Breitner, defender Georg Schwarzenbeck and striker Uli Hoeneß.

In the late seventies the club continued to produce world stars with Karl Heinz Rummenigge who took over Gerd Müller`s role and Lothar Matthäus who took over Franz Beckenbauer`s role.

Bayern Munich have been champions of the German Bundesliga for a record 18 times. Bayern have six European titles to their name and all in all 70 international have emerged from their ranks. The club also produced two German coaches – Beckenbauer and the current German coach Jürgen Klinsmann, who had a short spell with Bayern.

European record

The club's first European success came in 1967 when Franz Roth scored from a free-kick to ensure a 1-0 victory over Glasgow Rangers in the European Cupwinners Cup final, a competition which today no longer exists. In 1974 Bayern reached the European Cup Final for the first time. No Bundesliga team had ever won the European Cup at the time. In 1960 another Bundesliga side, Eintracht Frankfurt had reached the final, but lost 7-3 to the legendary Real Madrid side.

So now it was up to Bayern Munich.

With seconds of extra time remaining, Bayern found themselves 1-0 down against Athletico Madrid. It seemed that Germany could just not provide a winner in that competition. However, a last gasp equaliser by defender Schwarzenbeck made sure of a replay which the Munich side then easily won 4-0, thus becoming the first German side to win the European Cup.

The following year they were in the final again with a largely decimated team. Leeds United were their opponents this time and in spite of being forced to defend desperately for most of the match, Bayern showed true professionalism winning 2-0. Controversial refereeing decisions sparked off the infamous riots by Leeds supporters in Paris that night.

Bayern made it a hat trick of wins when they beat St. Etienne 1-0 in Glasgow in 1976, Franz "Bulle" Roth once more the scorer of the winning goal. More recently Bayern won the Champions League in Milan in 2001 on penalties against Valencia. In 1996 Bayern beat Bordeaux to win the Uefa Cup, becoming one of the few European teams to have won all three European competitions.

However, there were also big disappointments in Europe for Bayern.

In 1982 they lost the final 1-0 to Aston Villa in Rotterdam, in 1987 they lost to Porto 2-1 in Vienna and in 1999 they lost to Manchester United 2-1 in Barcelona. That defeat especially haunts them today as the two Manchester goals were dramatically scored in stoppage time.

For 30 years now, Bayern's footballing home has been the Munich Olympic stadium. The arena, constructed for the 1972 Olympic Games and famous throughout the world for its distinctive transparent canopy, was a host stadium at the 1974 World Cup and 1988 European Championships and has staged three European Cup finals. It has been the backdrop to countless moments of glory for Germany's most successful football club.

The Olympic stadium symbolises Bayern's glorious past and immensely successful present. However, slowly but surely the time has come to say farewell. The Munich club's future is now committed to the new Allianz Arena.

Over the years a handful of clubs have unsuccessfully attempted to break Bayern`s dominance in the Bundesliga. In the early seventies Borussia Mönchengladbach were Bayern`s greatest rivals. Later Borussia Dortmund were considered equal but their challenge has faded drastically recently due to Dortmund`s immense financial problems. Werder Bremen and more recently Schalke have been the clubs to challenge Bayern`s Bundesliga supremacy. However, in spite of all these attempts one thing seems certain -- Bayern will remain Germany`s top club for a long time.

Current Squad

Kahn, Oliver (1) da Silva Ferreira, Lucimar (3) Ballack, Michael (13) Guerrero, Jose Paolo (33) Rensing, Michael (22) Demichelis, Martin (6) Deisler, Sebastian (26) Hashemian, Vahid (9) Schlösser, Jan (36) Görlitz, Andreas (18) Frings, Torsten (8) Makaay, Roy (10)

Kovac, Robert (5) Hargreaves, Owen (23) Pizarro, Claudio (14) Kuffour, Samuel Osei (4) Jeremies, Jens (16) Salihamidzic, Hasan (20) Linke, Thomas (25) Scholl, Mehmet (7) Santa Cruz, Roque (24) Lizarazu, Bixente (69) Schweinsteiger, Bastian (31) Zickler, Alexander (21)

Rau, Tobias (15) Zé Roberto, José (Roberto da Silva Junior) (11) Sagnol, Willy (2)

Coach: Felix Magath

Alex Sisto