Bayern Munich

The club was founded in 1900 by eleven football players led by Franz John.  Although Bayern won its first national championship in 1932,  the club was not selected for the Bundesliga at its inception in 1963. In the middle of the 1970s, the club had its period of greatest success, when the famous team led by Franz Beckenbauer won the European Cup three times in a row (1974–76). In recent years they have been by far the most successful team in German football, winning seven of the last ten championships. The club's last international title was the Intercontinental Cup in 2001.

Since the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Munich plays its home games in the Allianz Arena. Previously the team had played for 33 years in the Olympic Stadium. The team colours are red and white, and the team crest shows the colours of Bavaria. 

Bayern is a membership-based club with more than 152,000 members.  There are also more than 2,500 officially-registered fan clubs with about 181,700 members. The club has other departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis, referees, and senior football with more than 1,100 active members.

History

Early years (1900–65)

FC Bayern Munich was founded by members of a Munich gymnastics club (MTV 1879). When a congregation of members of MTV 1879 decided on February 27, 1900 that the footballers of the club would not be allowed to join the German Football Association (DFB), eleven members of the football division left the congregation and on the same evening founded FC Bayern Munich. Within a few months FC Bayern Munich achieved high-scoring victories against all local rivals and reached the semifinals of the 1900–01 South German championship. In the following years the club won some local trophies and in 1910–11 FC Bayern Munich joined the newly founded "Kreisliga", the first regional Bavarian league. They won this league in its first year, but did not win it again until the beginning of World War I in 1914, which halted all football activities in Germany.

In the years after the war, FC Bayern Munich won several regional competitions, before winning their first South German championship in 1926, an achievement repeated two years later.Their first national title was gained in 1932, when coach Richard "Little Dombi" Kohn led the team to 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 were also purged. Bayern was taunted as the "Jew's club" and as a semi-professional club Bayern was also affected by the ruling that football players had to be full amateurs again. In the following years Bayern could not sustain its role of contender for the national title, achieving mid-table results in its regional league instead.

After the war Bayern became a member of the Oberliga Süd, the southern conference of the German first division, which was split five ways at that time. Bayern struggled, hiring and firing 13 coaches between 1945 and 1963. In 1955 they were relegated, but returned to the Oberliga in the following season and won the DFB-Pokal for the first time, beating Fortuna Düsseldorf 1–0 in the final.  The club struggled financially though, 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 into one national league, the Bundesliga. Five teams from the Oberliga South were admitted. Bayern finished third in that year's southern division, but another Munich team, 1860 Munich, had won the championship. As the DFB preferred not to include two teams from one city, Bayern was not chosen for the Bundesliga.  They 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. 

 Golden years (1965–79)

In their first Bundesliga season Bayern finished third and also won the cup. This qualified them for the following year's European Cup Winners' Cup, which they won 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 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.

Udo Lattek took charge in 1970. 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 new Olympic Stadium, and was also the first live televised match in Bundesliga history. Bayern beat Schalke 5–1 and thus claimed the title, also setting several records, including points gained and goals scored. Bayern also won the next two championships, but the zenith was their triumph in the European Cup final against Atlético Madrid, which Bayern won 4–0 after a replay.  During the following years the team was unsuccessful domestically, but defended their European title by defeating Leeds United in the final when Roth and Müller secured victory with late goals. A year later in Glasgow, AS Saint-Étienne were defeated by another Roth goal and Bayern became the third club to win the trophy in three consecutive years. The final trophy won by Bayern in this era was the Intercontinental Cup, in which they defeated Brazilian club Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte over two legs.  The rest of the decade was a time of change and saw no further titles for Bayern. In 1977 Franz Beckenbauer left for New York Cosmos and in 1979 Sepp Maier and Uli Hoeneß retired while Gerd Müller joined the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. 

 From FC Breitnigge to FC Hollywood (1979–98)

The 1980s were a period of off-field turmoil for Bayern, with many changes in personnel and financial problems. On the field, Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, termed FC Breitnigge, led the team to Bundesliga titles in 1980 and 1981. Apart from a DFB-Pokal win in 1982, two relatively unsuccessful seasons followed, after which Breitner retired and former coach Udo Lattek returned. Bayern won the 1984 cup, then went on to win five championships in six 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. 

Jupp Heynckes was hired as coach in 1987, but after two consecutive championships in 1988–89 and 1989–90 Bayern's form dipped. After a second place in 1990–91 the club finished just five points above the relegation places in 1991–92. Success returned when Franz Beckenbauer took over for the second half of the 1993–94 season, winning the Championship again after a four year gap. Beckenbauer was then appointed club president.

His successors as coach, Giovanni Trapattoni and Otto Rehhagel both finished trophyless after a season, not meeting the club's high 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 briefly returned at the end of the 1995–96 season as caretaker coach and led his team to victory in the UEFA Cup 1995–96, beating Bordeaux in the final. For the 1996–97 season Giovanni Trapattoni returned to win the championship. But in the following season Bayern lost the title to the just promoted 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Trapattoni had to take his leave for the second time.

Renewed international success (1998–present)

From 1998–2004 Bayern were coached by Ottmar Hitzfeld. In Hitzfeld's first season, Bayern won the Bundesliga and came close to winning the Champions League, losing 2–1 to Manchester United 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 on penalties. The 2001–02 season began with a win in the International Cup, but ended trophyless otherwise. A season later Bayern won their fourth double, leading the league by a record margin.  Hitzfeld's reign ended in 2004, with Bayern underperforming, including a cup defeat by second division Alemannia Aachen.

Felix Magath took over and led Bayern to two consecutive Doubles. 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 1860 Munich. On the field their performance in 2006–07 was erratic. Trailing in the league and having lost to Alemannia Aachen in the cup yet again, coach Magath was sacked shortly after the winter break.

Former Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld returned to Munich in January 2007, but Bayern finished the 2006–07 season fourth, thus failing to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in more than a decade. Additional losses in the cup and the League Cup left the club with no honours for the season. For the 2007–08 season, Bayern Munich made drastic squad changes to help retool and rebuild. They signed a total of eight new players and sold, released or loaned out nine of their existing players. Luca Toni from Fiorentina, Miroslav Klose from Werder Bremen, and record signing Franck Ribéry from Marseille headlined the signings.  The new additions paid off, as the Reds went on to win the 2008 DFB-Pokal and the Bundesliga, being on top of the standings on every single week of play.

On 11 January 2008 Jürgen Klinsmann was named as Hitzfeld's successor, taking charge on 1 July 2008. He signed a two year contract. During the first half of the 2008–09 Bundesliga season, Bayern got off to a rocky start, winning just two games until day six, but started to catch up afterwards. Bayer Leverkusen eliminated Bayern Munich in quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal. In the Champions League Bayern also reached the quarter-finals. They were eliminated by FC Barcelona after winning Group F and defeating Sporting CP in the first knockout round, achieving a Champions League record aggregate of 12–1. On April 27, two days after a home defeat against FC Schalke 04 which saw Bayern drop to the third place in the table, Klinsmann was fired. This was preceded by several disappointing results such as a 5–1 aggregate loss to Barcelona in the Champions League, and a 5–1 loss to the would-be champions VfL Wolfsburg. Former coach Jupp Heynckes was named as caretaker until the end of the season. Bayern eventually finished second, thus qualifying directly for the Champions League in 2009–10. FC Bayern then signed Louis Van Gaal for the 2009-10 season from AZ. While under speculation due to a strand of poor results, Van Gaal managed to advance Bayern through to the round of 16 with a convincing 4-1 display over Juventus in Turin. They drew Fiorentina as their opponent in the round of 16 in the Champions League. 

Colours

In the original club constitution, Bayern's colours were named as white and blue, but the club played in white shirts with black shorts until 1905, when Bayern joined MSC. MSC decreed that the footballers would have to play in red shorts. Also the younger players were called red-shorts, which was meant as an insult.  Bayern has played in red and white for most of its existence, but blue has been included on occasion. In the 1969–70 season the shirts were striped in blue and white, and the shorts and socks were also blue. A similar style appeared in 1995, when blue was for the first time the dominant colour. From 1999 on Bayern returned to its original colours. 

The club's away kit has had a wide range of colours over the years, including white, black, blue, and gold-green. Bayern also features a distinct international kit. As of 2009, the home kit is red, the away kit is dark blue, and the international kit is white 

In the 1980s and 90s, Bayern used a special away kit when playing at 1. FC Kaiserslautern, representing the Brazilian colours blue and yellow, a superstition born from the fact that the club found it hard to win there. 

 Crest

 Bayern's crest has changed several times. Originally it consisted of the stylized letters F, C, B, M, which were woven into one symbol. The original crest was blue. The colours of Bavaria were included for the first time in 1954 

The modern version of the crest has evolved from the 1954 version in several steps.[4] While the crest consisted of a single colour only for most of the time, namely blue or red, the current (2008) crest is blue, red, and white. It has the colours of Bavaria in its center and FC Bayern München is written in white on a red ring enclosing the Bavarian colours.

 Stadium

Bayern played its first training games at the Schyrenplatz in the center of Munich. The first official games were held on the Theresienwiese. In 1901 Bayern moved to its first own field, which was located in Schwabing at the Clemensstraße. After joining the Münchner Sport-Club (MSC) in 1906, Bayern moved in May 1907 to MSC's ground at the Leopoldstraße.  As the crowds gathering for Bayern's home games increased at the beginning of the 1920s, Bayern had to switch to various premises in Munich. 

From 1925 Bayern shared the Grünwalder Stadion with 1860 Munich.  Until World War II the stadium was owned by 1860 Munich, and is still colloquially known as Sechz'ger ("Sixties") Stadium nowadays. It was destroyed during the war, and efforts to rebuild it resulted in a patchwork. Bayern's record crowd at the Grünwalder Stadion is reported as more than 50,000 in the home game against 1. FC Nuremberg in the 1961–62 season. In the Bundesliga era the stadium had a maximum capacity of 44,000 which was reached on several occasions, but the capacity has since been reduced to 21,272. As was the case at most of this period's stadia, the vast majority of the stadium was given over to terracing. Today the second teams of both clubs play in the stadium. 

For the Olympic Games of 1972 the city of Munich built the Olympic Stadium. The stadium, renowned for its architecture,  was inaugurated in the last Bundesliga match of the 1971–72 season. The match drew a capacity crowd of 79,000, a total which was reached again 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 following years 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 such as 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 the architect Günther Behnisch vetoed major modifications of the stadium. 

After much discussion the city, the state of Bavaria, FC Bayern, and TSV 1860 jointly decided at the end of 2000 to build a new stadium. While Bayern had wanted to build a purpose-built football stadium for several years, the awarding of the FIFA World Cup 2006 to Germany stimulated the discussion as the Olympic Stadium no longer met the FIFA criteria to host a World Cup game. Located on the northern outskirts of Munich the Allianz Arena has been in use since the beginning of the 2005–06 season.  Its initial capacity of 66,000 fully covered seats has since been increased for matches on national level to 69,901 by transforming 3,000 seats to terracing in a 2:1 ratio.  The most prominent feature of the stadium is the translucent outer layer, which can be illuminated in different colours for impressive effects. Usually red lighting is used for Bayern home games, blue for 1860 home games and white for German National-Team home games