The members of a München gymnastics club established this club on February 27, 1900. It played its first games in the regional Bayern league. Ever since, the club has grown to become a prominent achiever, with the following honors to its credit.
• 20 times German Champions from 1932 to 2006• 13 times German Cup Winners from 1957 to 2006• Six times League Cup Winners in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, and 2007• Thrice winners of the German Supercup on 1982, 1987, and 1990• Twice winners of the Intercontinental Cup in 1976 and 2001• Four times winners of the Champions League title in 1974, 1975, 1976, and 2001• Winners of the European Cup Winners Cup in 1967• Winners of the UEFA Cup in 1996
The full name of this outstanding club is FC Bayern München AG. It is known by the nicknames of Der FCB (The FCB), Die Bayern (The Bavarians), Die Roten (The Reds), and FC Hollywood. FC Bayern’s colours are red and white. Its current chairman is Franz Beckenbauer and head coach is Jurgen Klinsmann. Among its well known players were Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Mueller, Sepp Meier, Lothar mattheus, Paul Breitner, Michael Ballack, Karl Hein Rummenigge, Oliver Kahn and Stefan Effenberg.
The Second World War was the darkest period in the history of this club, otherwise spangled with honors, titles, and wins, both national and international. The club’s president and its coach, who happened to be Jews, had to flee the country. Many other Jewish members of the club were also purged, and for years to come, the club was pushed into the background and was regarded with contempt as a ‘Jews Club’.
The team around Beckenbauer was the most successful one in Bayern’s history. They did not only win several league titles, but also won the Champions League three times in a row in 1974-1976. Furthermore Bayern players accounted for half of the starting 11 of the German national team that won the European Championship in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974.
After Hitzfeld, Felix Magath became new Bayern coach and the team won the German title and cup twice under his leadership. Besides those trophies, the Bayern manager got displeased with the direction the team was heading and brought back Hitzfeld towards the end of the 2006-7 season.
Bayern did not have a good season during 2006-07. Perhaps due to this, it has set to work building a newer and better team. With the entry of Jan Schlaudraff from Alemannia Aachen, Hamit Alintop from Schalke 04, Jose Ernesto Sosa from Estudiantes de la Plata, Marcell Jansen from Borussia Monchengladbach, Luca Toni from ACF Fiorentina, Franck Ribery from Olympique Marseille, Ze Roberto of Santos FC, and Miroslav Klose of Werder Bremen into it, the club hopes to build a new team.
Bayern is financially sound, and has stated that it will take every opportunity to purchase players of quality. It trains its professional and junior team at the Bayern München Headquarters. The place is extremely sophisticated with state-of-the-art facilities. One of its four grass pitches has under soil heating. Other facilities include an artificial grass field and a multi-functional sports hall. The player’s quarters have a huge dressing room, a massage room, a surgery, a relaxation bath, a whirlpool, a rehabilitation center, and a conference room. In addition to this, there is also a Youth House, which can accommodate around 13 rising stars from outside the city, who form part of the club’s Junior Team.
• Gerd Muller (1970), Franz Beckenbauer (1972), and Karl-Heinz Runnenigge (1980) have been named European Player of the Year.• The club has set a record when sixteen of its players got named as German Footballer of the Year, a total of sixteen titles.• According to an online poll conducted by Bayern on June 1, 2005, 66,000 fans have voted for players from a shortlist presented to them• Famous Bayern fans, Boris Becker and former Bavaria Minister, President Edmund Stoiber are members of the club’s advisory board.• The German NBA player Dirk Nowitzki and Pope Benedict XVI are also fans of this club.• On August 21, 2006, Bayern München scored their 3,000th Bundersliga goal against Werder Bermen. The goal scorer was Roy Makaay.• On March 7, 2007, Bayern München made Champions League history by scoring the fastest ever goal against Real Madrid. Again, the goal scorer was Roy Makaay.• On September 19, 1999, Bayern won a 2-1 against Eintracht Frankfurt despite the fact that it had lost both goalies Oliver Kahn and Bernd Dreher to injury and had to substitute midfielder Michael Tarnat as a makeshift goalkeeper.