Key Figures — The Men Who Shaped the Club

Uli Hoeneß — The Architect

When he took over on 1 May 1979, the club was cash-strapped and far from pre-eminence.

The butcher's son from Ulm continued, over 40 years, what he had begun as a player since 1970: collecting titles and making money. World Cup and European Championship winner, present for all of Bayern's 1970s successes, he ran the club as general manager and from 2009 as president.

His impulsive way of fighting for FCB's interests earned him the label Department Attack. Although he began a 20-month prison sentence in June 2014 for tax evasion, the members re-elected him as president in 2016. On 15 November 2019, Hoeneß stepped down: If FC Bayern need my advice, I'm there.

If they don't need it, that's a good sign.

In charge

1979–2009 (GM), 2009–2019 (President)

Revenue growth

12m DM → 978m EUR

Championships

22 under his aegis

Franz Beckenbauer — The Kaiser

Whether as left winger, midfield dynamo or sweeper — he was the superstar from the start.

He still had to find his position, but never his role. Whether as a left winger — where he began — as a midfield dynamo — which he was for five years — or as a sweeper — in which role he experienced his glory years and departed the Munich stage in 1977 — he was the superstar of the team. After just six Bundesliga games he became a full international, went to a World Cup after his first season, and returned as a vice-world champion.

In 396 Bundesliga games for FC Bayern (1965–77), he never once sat on the bench.

After Werner Olk's departure in 1970, the Kaiser assumed the captaincy at the age of 25. Four times German Footballer of the Year (1966, 1968, 1974 and 1977), twice European Footballer of the Year (1972 and 1976), World Cup winner as captain (1974) and European champion (1972). His trademarks: outside-of-the-boot passes and one-twos with Gerd Müller, against which legions of defenders could find no remedy.

In 1977 he fled the tax authorities and the tabloid press — who were gleefully exploiting his marital problems — to New York, where success followed him at Cosmos New York as well (champion 1978 and 1980). He won his final titles as a player with HSV (champion 1982) after his surprise Bundesliga return.

But his club remained FC Bayern, to which he devoted his full attention after his time as DFB team manager (World Cup winner 1990).

Vice-president from October 1991, he stepped in as coach in January 1994 as Erich Ribbeck's successor and was promptly champion. Then he became president of FCB (1994–2009) and, as such, the first person to coach a Bundesliga club while serving as its president — in April 1996 he replaced coaching flop Otto Rehhagel. He didn't win the title this time, but he did capture the UEFA Cup.

After that, he withdrew definitively into the executive suite; nine league titles and the Champions League triumph fell within his presidency.

Uli Hoeneß: What Franz achieved is outstanding. He is very ambitious and sees things through with great personal sacrifice. From 2009 honorary president, things grew quieter around the Kaiser — so called because he once had himself photographed next to a bust of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph, and because he ruled on the pitch like no other in German football.

A shadow fell over perhaps his greatest achievement for German football, one that darkened the twilight of his life.

From 2015, at the centre of international financial investigations by German, Swiss and US authorities over corruption allegations — was the 2006 World Cup bought? The mystery of the infamous €6.7 million that Beckenbauer procured on the DFB's behalf, and which were falsely accounted for to conceal who knows what, was never resolved — not even by Beckenbauer himself before his death.

As player

1965–77, 396 games, never benched

As president

1994–2009

Ballon d'Or

1972, 1976

Wilhelm Neudecker — The President

Under his presidency, the club developed from Munich's number two into a global force.

President from 1962 to 1979. The multi-millionaire construction magnate professionalised the then second-tier club, hired championship-winning coach Čajkovski in 1963 and installed Robert Schwan as the first manager of a German football club. He ran the club in the manner of a feudal lord.

In March 1979, Neudecker became the first victim of a player mutiny against a president.

President

1962–1979

European Cups

4 under his presidency

Jupp Heynckes — The Late Triumphant

Considered unemployable in 2009 — then delivered the perfect Treble in 2013.

When Hoeneß sacked Klinsmann in April 2009, he remembered Heynckes, out of work since leaving Gladbach in 2007. Heynckes coached Bayern to second place, then went to Leverkusen (2009–11), then returned for his defining spell.

From 2011 to 2013: first the runners-up treble (2012), then the real Treble. Barcelona humiliated 4-0 and 3-0 in the semi-final. When Ancelotti was sacked in October 2017, Heynckes stepped in once more out of friendship.

Never has there been more love between a Bundesliga squad and its coach.

Bayern stints

1987/88, 1991/92, 2009, 2011–13, 2017/18

Treble

2012/13

Record

91 points (Bundesliga record)

Arjen Robben — The Flying Dutchman

He didn't actually fancy Munich — and then scored the most important goal in the club's modern history.

Surplus at Real Madrid after Pérez brought in Ronaldo and Kaká, Robben reluctantly moved to Bayern in 2009. Sometimes you have to be forced into your own fortune. 201 Bundesliga appearances, 99 goals. His most important: the 89th-minute winner in the 2013 Champions League final against Dortmund at Wembley.

Bundesliga

201 games, 99 goals

Defining goal

CL final 2013, 89th minute

Konrad Heidkamp — The Captain

Captain of the side that won Bayern's first German championship in 1932.

The Düsseldorf-born Grenadier from the Rhine won nine caps and took part in the 1928 Olympics. As late as 1944, at the age of 39, he was still playing. Heidkamp was instrumental in keeping the club's football operations going during the war.

Franz Bulle Roth — The Man with the Big Goals

Without Roth, FC Bayern would have several fewer international titles.

He scored the 1-0 in three European Cup finals. Twice his goals were decisive: Glasgow Rangers 1967 (Cup Winners' Cup) and Saint-Étienne 1976 (European Cup). His 1-0 against Leeds (1975) set the course for victory. Eleven goals in 65 European Cup matches. The European Cup loved me, he told Die WELT in 1999.

European goals

11 in 65 matches

Final goals

3 (1967, 1975, 1976)

Sepp Maier — Goalkeeping Legend

699 competitive appearances — FC Bayern's all-time record, including 442 consecutive Bundesliga matches.

Maier played for the club for 17 years (1962–1979). European Cup winner 1974, 1975, 1976. World Club Cup 1976. Cup Winners' Cup 1967. Four times champion, four times cup winner. German Footballer of the Year 1975, 1977, 1978. Captain after Beckenbauer's departure. His career ended after a car accident he himself caused on 14 July 1979.

Appearances

699 competitive

Consecutive BL

442 (record)

Footballer of Year

1975, 1977, 1978

Udo Lattek — Title Udo

Germany's most successful coach in terms of trophies — and he won them with three different clubs.

Eight German championships with Bayern and Gladbach. One European trophy each with Bayern (European Cup 1974), Gladbach (UEFA Cup) and Barcelona (Cup Winners' Cup). Appointed at 35 with no club coaching experience, he became Bayern's all-time Bundesliga record coach (299 matches). Two championship hat-tricks: 1971–74 and 1984–87.

Bayern matches

299 (record)

Hat-tricks

1971–74, 1984–87

European trophies

3 (with 3 clubs)