Fun Facts
Knowledge for blowhards, braggadocios and connoisseurs
FC Bayern München are German record champions. That’s a "no-brainer." But here come fun facts of a special kind.
Why "Mia san Mia": In standard German, "Mia san Mia" translates roughly as "We are who we are" — or more loosely, "Nobody can touch us." The phrase is not a Bayern invention but an Austrian saying. Historians have traced it to soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy in the 19th century. From Austria, it migrated to Bavaria — and eventually to Säbener Straße.
First Bundesliga victory: On matchday 2 of the 1965/66 season, Bayern recorded their first Bundesliga win — a 2-0 home victory against Eintracht Frankfurt. Rainer Ohlhauser (24’) and Werner Nafziger (87’) scored the club’s first Bundesliga goals.
Brawls between players are not that rare at Bayern: In 1999/2000, Bixente Lizarazu and Lothar Matthäus clashed, with the Frenchman slapping the Franconian. But that was in training and relatively harmless. In the 1990s, Christian Ziege and Brazilian flop Bernardo had to be separated. In the 1980s, things got even more physical.
The 2013/14 season: Under coach Pep Guardiola, FCB clinched the title after just 27 matchdays — the earliest championship in Bundesliga history. That season, Bayern also set the league record of 53 consecutive matches without defeat, a run that began in November 2012 under Jupp Heynckes.
Number two: For decades, Bayern were only the second club in the Bavarian capital — behind local rivals 1860 München. The "Lions" were Bundesliga founding members and became the city’s first Bundesliga champions in Bayern’s debut season (1965/66).
King Otto in Bavaria: Otto Rehhagel falls into the "misunderstanding" category. No coach had sat on the Bundesliga bench more often than Rehhagel (820 matches) through December 2019. He arrived in 1995 from Werder Bremen, where he had ruled almost alone for 14 years. On April 28, 1996, Rehhagel was sacked — three days before a Champions League semi-final. His reign lasted barely nine months.
Bayern and the Klinsmann Buddhas: Jürgen Klinsmann caused a stir with unusual decorations at Bayern’s headquarters before his first Bundesliga season as coach. Golden reclining figures, serene white cross-legged statues. They were placed in the corridors at Säbener Straße — and became the perfect symbol for everything that was wrong with his tenure.
The first Bundesliga championship: Bayern won it in 1968/69. It remains the only one won at the Grünwalder Stadion — though only because their 17th and final home match of the 1971/72 season was already played at the Olympiastadion.
