Wise Words — Soccer Memes and Wisdom
What players, coaches and executives of FC Bayern have come out with over the years. Between genius and madness.
The Bayern Legends
In football, a lot gets said. At FC Bayern, a particularly large amount gets said.
Franz Beckenbauer
There are only three possibilities: win, draw or defeat.
The Kaiser, known for his elegant play, was less elegant at the microphone. His logic loops are the stuff of legend.
Udo Lattek
All the great coaches drank, after all: Weisweiler, Happel, Zebec. And I'm one of the greats, too.
Lattek on the drinking habits of his profession. Unapologetic, self-aware, and not entirely wrong.
Oliver Kahn — Divine Respect
I think the gods have respect for me.
Kahn was known for his intense pronouncements. Whether the gods were actually impressed remains theologically unresolved.
Oliver Kahn — The Mantra
Keep going, always keep going.
Kahn's battle cry after the 2001 championship. Three words that sum up an entire mentality.
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Football is not mathematics!
Rummenigge after the 2-2 against Bolton United, in which coach Hitzfeld had rotated too heavily. Diplomatic, but with a tendency towards the obvious.
Thomas Müller — Philosophy
My calves are so thin that no opponent can hit the bones because they're so hard to see.
Where there are no muscles, you can't hurt yourself. Müller reduces football to its essentials. 13 championships, thin calves or not.
The Controversials
Rudi Völler
Before I go to Bayern, I'd rather go to Sudan or have my hand chopped off.
Völler, then at Werder Bremen, on the prospect of joining FC Bayern. A renegade's declaration of independence.
Uli Hoeneß on Jürgen Klinsmann
If he is the Obama of German football, then I am Mother Teresa.
Hoeneß's verdict on Klinsmann — delivered after the Californian's failed stint as Bayern coach. Direct, unvarnished, Swabian.
Lothar Matthäus — Self-Assessment
A Lothar Matthäus does not allow himself to be defeated by his own body; a Lothar Matthäus decides his own fate.
Matthäus delivered quotes for decades that oscillate between genius and madness. Further samples: A Lothar Matthäus cannot afford to embarrass himself. A Lothar Matthäus does not need a third person. He manages perfectly well on his own. And, in English: I hope we have a little bit lucky.
Sammy Kuffour
We want red-and-white shirts!
Kuffour's contribution to colour politics, sung from the town hall balcony during title celebrations.
Jürgen Cobra Wegmann
I am more venomous than the most venomous snake.
Wegmann explains his nickname. Self-confidence was never in short supply at FC Bayern.