FC Bayern Munich are a football club based in the city of Munich in Bavaria, Germany. Founded in 1900, they have been competing in UEFA competitions since the 1960s and have become one of the most successful teams in Europe, winning eight major continental trophies including six European Cup/Champions League titles and are ranked joint third among all clubs across the continent in this regard. Bayern are by far Germany's most successful international representatives: no other teams from that nation have won Europe's premier competition more than once, or have more than two trophy wins overall.
By winning the Intercontinental Cup in 1976 and 2001, and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2013 and in 2020 (played in February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Bayern were recognised as world champions of that year.
History
1960s Bayern were not one of the major teams in West Germany in the years following the end of World War II and the partition of the nation, and had been treated unfavourably by the Nazi regime due to the Jewish origins of their founders prior to 1945. They were inaugural members of the Oberliga Süd in 1945 but never finished higher than 3rd in that region so were not eligible to compete for the overall championship, which gave access to the new European Cup from 1955. Bayern finished behind city rivals TSV 1860 Munich in the 1962–63 campaign and were not invited to join the nationwide Bundesliga which had was due to start the following season – the organisers invited other clubs who had finished lower as they did not want more than one entrant per city. However, the club did take part in a European competition for the first time in that 1962–63 season, reaching the quarter-finals of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (a non-UEFA competition which at that time was organised by invitation for clubs in cities which hosted trade fairs, although its qualification path later became more closely associated with placings in each national league and is considered the forerunner of the UEFA Cup). They had already won the national cup in 1956–57, but the European Cup Winners' Cup would not be introduced until three years later.
Under coach Zlatko Čajkovski, Bayern gained promotion to the Bundesliga for the 1965–66 season and finished third (1860 were champions). That year they also won the Cup again, so entered a UEFA competition for the first time, namely the 1966–67 European Cup Winners' Cup. They went on to lift that trophy, beating Scottish club Rangers 1–0 after extra time in the final. Bayern were fortunate in that the match was played in Bavaria, with the contest in Nuremberg (Franconia) being almost a home tie, and also benefitted from their opponents' chaotic preparations: Rangers had eliminated the holders and fellow Germans Borussia Dortmund in an earlier round, but had since dispensed with the services of two prolific forwards who took the blame for a shock defeat in the Scottish Cup in January 1967, instead relying on a converted defender who did not have the quality required to overcome the Bayern resistance. The winning side contained several young local talents – goalkeeper Sepp Maier, sweeper Franz Beckenbauer and striker Gerd Müller who would become recognised as world-class in their positions, plus midfielder Franz Roth (scorer of the only goal in 1967) and reserve defender Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck – all of whom would be integral to the spell of great success about to be enjoyed by the club.
1967 European Cup Winners' Cup Final
In their attempt to retain the Cup Winners' Cup, Bayern lost to eventual winners A.C. Milan in the semi-finals, but won their first double in 1969. They were eliminated from the 1969–70 European Cup at the first hurdle as French team Saint-Etienne overturned a 2–0 deficit from Germany to win 3–0 at their own stadium, contributing to the departure of head coach Branko Zebec (who was later acknowledged as having laid many of the foundations of what was to follow)Bayern Munich: Branko Zebec, the brilliant, damaged manager who helped shape a giant, Michael Yokhin, BBC Sport, 6 August 2020 - but also was said to be unstable due to a drinking problem. His successor Udo Lattek, who had been recommended to the club by Beckenbauer, recruited Paul Breitner and Uli Hoeneß, another two important additions to the squad. Ironically, it was Beckenbauer who blamed Lattek later on for "playing tennis with teammembers on the day of an important match which we lost consequently" (in the first of his "autobiographies", called "Einer wie ich"), and is thought to have masterminded the switch to Dietmar Cramer, his former coach at age 17 in the "Youth National Team".
1970s
Bayern took part in the Fairs Cups for the second and final time in 1970–71, beating Rangers again before bowing out to Liverpool in the quarter-finals. They won the domestic Cup that year, and advanced to the semi-finals of the subsequent 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup, gaining revenge on Liverpool but this time losing out to Rangers, whose turn it was to lift the trophy. However, on the domestic front they secured their second Bundesliga championship, having finished behind Borussia Mönchengladbach for the past two years. That summer would be significant for two reasons: the West Germany team, dominated by Bayern and Mönchengladbach players, won the 1972 UEFA European Championship in Belgium. Having lost to England after extra time in the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final and to Italy in a famous semi-final in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, the dominant Euro victory demonstrated that this group of German players now had the capability to triumph on the biggest stage. Secondly, the 1972 Summer Olympic Games were held in Munich, with Bayern moving into its main arena from the much smaller Grünwalder Stadion after the events were over, giving the club a stadium to match their ambitions of dominance.
In 1972–73, Bayern reached the last eight before losing to holders Ajax, who would go on to retain their title. However, the Bundesliga was successfully defended, and another opportunity in the European Cup beckoned in 1973–74. That campaign was almost a very short one, with a penalty shootout required to overcome Swedish semi-professionals Åtvidaberg in the first round (Bayern were sufficiently impressed with the opposition's Conny Torstensson to sign him a short time later). Subsequent rounds behind the Iron Curtain, including a narrow hard-fought 7–6 victory over East Germans Dynamo Dresden for the 'true German Championship', brought the club to their first Champions Cup final, to be staged at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, the same venue as West Germany's Euro victory. The opposition, Atlético Madrid, were known for their defensive strength, and the 90 minutes ended goalless. When Atlético scored with only five minutes of extra time remaining it seemed like Bayern's dream was over, but a Schwarzenbeck goal with a shot from 30 yards in the last minute meant the tie was saved and a replay was needed. 48 hours later, Bayern produced a superior performance, Hoeneß and Müller each scoring twice, and the 4–0 result brought European football's biggest prize to Bavaria, and indeed to Germany, for the first time.
1974 European Cup Final
First match
Replay
Two months after the European Cup victory, Bayern's players formed the spine of the West Germany national team which won the 1974 FIFA World Cup on home soil, defeating bitter rivals the Netherlands in the final held in Munich. Beckenbauer, 'Der Kaiser' was the captain and the goals were scored by Breitner and Müller. The outcome represented a shift in power away from the Dutch, whose clubs had participated in the past five European Cup finals but would not be involved again for 14 years.
Bayern and Cup Winners' Cup holders 1. FC Magdeburg of East Germany proved unable to find suitable dates for a European Super Cup meeting. The East's national team had recorded a shock win over the West when they met in the group stage of the World Cup a few months earlier, but when the draw for the second round of the 1974–75 European Cup brought those very teams together by chance, it was again Bayern representing the West who came out on top, although not without problems after falling behind in the first leg.
With Dettmar Cramer newly installed as head coach after parting company with Lattek in January 1975, they progressed past two further opponents including Saint-Etienne to set up a meeting with Leeds United in the Paris final. The result was a 2–0 win for Bayern with goals by Roth and Müller, but the event would be unfavourably remembered for some brutal challenges by the Leeds players and several debatable decisions by the French referee in Bayern's favour including a disallowed goal. This led some English fans to riot in frustration, using broken seats as missiles within the stadium and continuing to damage property in the city through the night.
Domestically, Gladbach won the title and Bayern finished only 10th; they were minus Breitner who had moved to Real Madrid, although their future star Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had joined the club and was an unused substitute in Paris. The following season, the club played in the European Super Cup for the first time, but lost both legs of the tie to Dynamo Kyiv.
1975 European Cup Final
1975 European Super Cup
First leg
Second leg
Bayern again made little challenge for the domestic title, eventually finishing third as the key players passed their physical peak and lost some of their hunger having won every trophy they could; however, encouraged by the promise of big win bonuses in the competition, Bayern reached the European Cup final once again, defeating Real Madrid in the semis (with Müller and the referee assaulted on the pitch by a spectator at the end of the first leg) to face Saint Etienne in Glasgow. Roth scored the only goal in the second half to bring the trophy home for a third time in succession (following Real Madrid and Ajax in this achievement which allowed them to keep the trophy permanently), while the French team asserted afterwards that it was only the unusual square goalposts at Hampden Park which prevented them from scoring when their attempts struck the crossbar on two occasions. Bayern Munich were represented by four of the West Germany side in the UEFA Euro 1976 Final that summer in Belgrade, but the national squad were also slightly past their absolute best and lost on penalties to Czechoslovakia.
1976 European Cup Final
Bayern lost their second Super Cup match to Anderlecht that August, but took part in the Intercontinental Cup for the first time, having ceded their 1974 invitation to Atlético Madrid and been unable to find mutually suitable fixture dates with their South American Libertadores Cup-winning counterparts in 1975 (it has also been suggested there was a reluctance to play against Argentinian sides, as would have happened in both those years, due to violence in previous editions). The opposition in November and December 1976 was Brazil's Cruzeiro; Bayern secured a 2–0 first leg lead in a snowy Munich – inevitably Gerd Müller was a scorer, along with Jupp Kapellmann – and held on for a goalless draw across the Atlantic Ocean a month later in front of a crowd of 117,000 at the Mineirão to become the world champions (at the time that title was unofficial, but was retrospectively awarded as such by FIFA in 2017).
1976 European Super Cup
First leg
Second leg
1976 Intercontinental Cup
First leg
Second leg