The Säbener Strasse : FC Bayern Munchen head offices and training facilities

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The Säbener Strasse

Bayern's head offices and training facility

'The training ground here is fantastic. The perfect working environment!' said French star Willy Sagnol on his arrival in Munich in summer 2000. And his reaction was typical: no new signing has yet failed to be impressed by the club's headquarters at Säbener Strasse 51 in the Munich suburb of Harlaching. The 70,000 square metre facility offers everything a professional footballer could desire.

The training ground incorporates four grass pitches, one of which is equipped with under soil heating, an artificial grass pitch and a multi-functional sports hall. The players' quarters, opened in 1990, offers a generously proportioned dressing room, a massage room, a doctor's surgery, a relaxation bath, a whirlpool, a state-of-the-art rehabilitation centre and a conference room with screening facilities for video analysis.

Bayern's playing and coaching staff enjoy one of the finest working environments in Europe. But the commitment to quality is not restricted to the athletes. Germany's most successful club is also headquartered at the Säbener Strasse. Bayern fans and visitors come in their thousands to the ticket office, the fan shop, the club restaurant and a Euro Lloyd travel agency. The club's approximately 140 employees work in the administration centre, which also houses the offices of chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and fellow directors Uli Hoeneß and Karl Hopfner. The offices enjoy a superb view of the training ground, as the club works to continue its glorious tradition of success.

One visible component of this commitment is the club's Youth House, which houses up to 13 rising young stars from outside the city, working on their development as footballers as part of Bayern's highly successful Junior Team. The value of this particularfacility has been demonstrated by Bayern's capture of Germany's senior youth championship in 2001 and 2002, and the emergence of stars such as Paolo Guerrero and Owen Hargreaves, both former residents of the Youth House.

The arrangement is unique: the Säbener Strasse 51 is 'home' to young players, professionals, the management, administration and fans, 'the essence of Bayern Munich under one roof', so to speak. And the club is not content to rest here: this season, the superbly equipped facility is to be expanded even further on land available to the south.

 

FC Bayern Head Office

The reconstruction project to create the ServiceCenter also offered the chance to reunite Bayern’s administrative family. New office space on the first and second floors of the ServiceCenter has allowed the merchandising and licensing section to return “home” after years in temporary accommodation in the suburb of Oberhaching. The ticketing, member services, scouting, fan clubs, autograph, mail and traffic departments are also quartered in the new building.

That in turn has freed up space in the older office block. Board members Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Uli Hoeneß and Karl Hopfner maintain offices on the second floor, offering the trio an excellent view of the players’ progress out on the training ground. The finance and bookkeeping sections are located next to the management offices.

The first floor houses the media and communication, legal, sponsorship and event marketing sections, the media rights and new media department, and the international relations team. The ground floor and basement contains the IT section, plus the dressing rooms and players’ quarters for the reserves and junior teams.

The Training Facility

The Säbener Strasse site offers Bayern’s entire roster of teams, from the Bundesliga seniors down to the Under-8s, superb training and playing conditions. The stars of today and tomorrow hone their skills on five grass pitches, two of which boast undersoil heating. Naturally, the sacred turf is tended daily by the dedicated groundstaff, and the surfaces are widely accepted to match the quality of many a putting or bowling green.

The 80,000 square metre site also features two third-generation artificial turf pitches, a beach volleyball court, and a multi-purpose sports hall. Professionals and junior hopefuls alike benefit from the outstanding facilities on offer.

FC Bayern Performance centre

The day after the end of the 2007-8 campaign, major rebuilding work commenced at the Säbener Straße. The former professionals’ quarters, a base for the playing staff since 1990, was entirely gutted, reconstructed and knocked through into the adjacent former fan shop, creating a totally new and state-of-the-art performance centre, all within the space of just six weeks. As chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge commented: “We’re all thrilled. It’s a perfect oasis for the players, allowing them to focus 100 percent on football.“

“It’s the new jewel and heart of the club,“ said Jürgen Klinsmann, the initiator and driving force behind the new facility. “It’s unique anywhere in the world, the Real Madrids and Barcelonas don’t have one. We’re really proud of it,“ the Bayern coach declared. The board unhesitatingly backed Klinsmann’s initiative for a performance centre “to help each individual player develop in every area.“

The 2,000 square metre performance centre is primarily designed to help the players develop their skills, both on and off the field. The plans were partly inspired by the Player Lounges favoured by leading NFL and NBA clubs. The fundamental concept called for the creation of space. Indeed, the first floor has effectively become a single room.

The state-of-the-art weights and fitness area is located to one side, adjacent to the massage unit and the coaches’ office, where Klinsmann and his team conduct planning and analysis sessions. The opposite side boasts a café, a library and a family room, where the players are invited to spend time with their partners and children. A mixing desk and games consoles provide further relaxation opportunities.

The first floor also features an e-learning room, intended for language and computer classes. A staircase leads from the family room out onto the roof, where the glass cupola recognisable from the old fan shop now houses another innovative facility. The auditorium, effectively a private cinema with a 2.8m screen and 39 leather seats, is used for team talks and video analysis, with screened-off booths for up to five simultaneous translators.

Next to the auditorium, the roof terrace boasts barbecue equipment for relaxed communal evenings in the future. The main dressing rooms, the coaches’ dressing room and the showers, with three ice water plunge baths, are located on the ground floor. Each of the 24 lockers in the rebuilt dressing room incorporates a small digital message board, displaying each individual’s specific daily schedule.

The performance centre offers everything the stars require to work, rest and play. That idea appears to be working. “It’s genuinely the case that I’m already delighted to be spending time here between training sessions,” revealed Michael Rensing, “the performance centre is just massive, you can’t put it into words.”

FC Bayern Youth academy

What do Michael Rensing, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Owen Hargreaves and Sammy Kuffour have in common? They all made it to the big time as graduates of the Bayern junior team. All four spent many of their formative years at the Säbener Strasse youth academy.

The apartment block adjacent to head office was constructed in 1990 at the same time as the former professionals’ quarters. The facility accommodates up to 13 players aged from 15 to 18, whose home towns are too far away from Munich for the daily commute to training. There are also guest rooms for young trialists. A common room on the top floor features a kitchen and a games room. A team of up to eleven tutors is available to help with school work in the afternoons.

The academy has been managed since 2007 by Gertrud Wanke, who is effectively in loco parentis for the talented hopefuls. She wakes the youngsters and prepares their breakfast buffet, but also takes care of the players’ greater or lesser difficulties insofar as she is able. She is assisted by qualified youth worker and tutor Andreas Kronenberg, specifically tasked with helping the lads make productive use of their free time.

The junior team administrative offices are located on the ground floor of the building, centred on the office maintained by Werner Kern, director of the club’s youth and reserve sections. The complex also features a conference room with modern communication equipment. The room is used for meetings and presentations, and the coaching staff’s computer-based analyses. The academy provides a perfect foundation for the careful nurturing of talented young players seeking to follow in the footsteps of Rensing, Schweinsteiger & Co.

Comprehensive facility

FCB Service Center opens for business

 

Just 14 months after construction work began, the new FCB ServiceCenter opened its doors to the public at 8 am on Monday morning. The brand new facility at the Säbener Strasse headquarters offers members, fans and customers a vast range of services connected to the club, including ticketing, the members’ and fan clubs’ sections, and a new FCB megastore.

The ServiceCenter is open daily from 8 am to 8 pm CET. A Welcome Desk will be permanently staffed during these hours, where two friendly and helpful personnel are on hand to assist customers with their needs, including times when the shop and/or service desks may be closed.

250 square meter fan shop

The reception desk and the service desks for members’ administration and ticketing are miniature replicas of the Allianz Arena, providing just one of many visual treats at the new home-from-home for Bayern supporters. The all-new 250 square metre megastore is a veritable treasure trove for loyal fans of the club and its superstars Ribéry, Toni, Schweini & Co, with replica kit, shirts, caps and so much more.

Everyone at the club would be delighted to welcome fans visiting Munich to the Service Center. See you soon at the Säbener Strasse! 

 

Der Fan Shop

 

FC Bayern Munchen From Time to Time

1900-2000

A century of success

The first 100 years of Bayern Munich's history - and its success story - begin and end with the name Franz. Is it just a coincidence that the leader of the eleven spirited rebels who met to form FC Bayern in the Gisela Restaurant in Munich on the night of 27th February 1900, was a certain Franz John? Or that it was a Franz who masterminded the split from MTV 1879, the original club, which had suppressed every attempt by the footballers at independence? Is it only chance that exactly a century later, another Franz, this time Beckenbauer, would lead Bayern Munich, now an experienced and visionary club with countless titles to its name, into the new millennium as its president?

Much time and many other differences separate now from then. Franz John co-founded and built Bayern up from nothing and was delighted with relatively modest results, like Bayern's 7-1 victory in their first match against their former team, MTV 1879. But John also gave this 'cavalier' club its first individual touch.

In the early days, people recognised Bayern, then known as Schwabinger Bayern, by the players' straw hats. In his turn, Franz Beckenbauer would help make Bayern Munich what it is today: an international club with millions of fans, an institution reaching way beyond German football.

Not in his wildest dreams could Franz John have imagined that future, or that his team would one day be German champions, European Cup Champions and even World Club Championship winners. Nor could he have imagined that nearly a century later, on a mild spring day in 1999, Beckenbauer would meet the world's leading heads of state, and no less than the British prime minister, Tony Blair, would whisper to him that he was the most famous person there.

Clearly something incredible happened in the 100 years between Franz and Franz.

1900 - 1945

Success from the Outset

The story begins in February 1900 with Franz John, a Berliner, and the 18 names on the club's corporate charter, the first of many Bayern players to come. The team's rise began in 1907, when the Bayern Reds moved to their new home, the Bayern Ground on Munich's Leopoldstrasse. Local opposition team, FC Wacker, found out which way things were heading with an 8-1 defeat in the opening match.

Bayern's first success was a top place in Munich football, an achievement spectators at the Bayern Ground watched in relative comfort from a proper stand. Their first real peak came in 1910, when the team became Eastern Region Champions.

The following year Bayern defended their title undefeated, despite raising more than a few smiles in short trousers. By then they had a national player in the squad. Max 'Gaberl' Gablonsky first put on the German strip for Germany's 3-0 defeat by Belgium on 16th May 1910. After that, things moved quickly. By 1920, Bayern had 700 members and had become what it is today: Munich's biggest football club.

In 1926, the team won the South German championship and in 1932 achieved its first national title, defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0. The goal-scorers were Rohr and Krumm, the stars were Heidkampf and Breindl, and coach, masseur, organiser and manager all rolled into one was Richard 'Little' Dombi.

Bayern became a household name in Germany, but after Simetsreiter, Goldbrunner and Moll had boosted the 1936 Olympic team in Berlin, the football spirit died. TheSecond World War broke out and was to still the pulse of sport in Germany for many years.

1946 to 1967

Geschichte: A Period of Reconstruction

After this catastrophic period in history, German football needed its own period of recovery. It would be nine years before real euphoria broke out again, when the German national team returned triumphant from the World Cup in Switzerland.

Sepp Herberger's team had won Germany's first World Cup title, but the 3-2 victory over Hungary was a bitter experience for Jakob Streitle, the Bayern captain. The international who had made 15 appearances for his country had to sit out the final and watch Fritz Walter and the German team win without him.

But it would be a while before a German team without Bayern players became a rare sight, even though the Reds won the 1957 DFB (German Football Federation) Cup. In a sell-out match in front of 42,000 spectators at Augsburg's Rosenau Stadium, Bayern captain, Jobst led the team to a 1-0 victory over Fortuna Düsseldorf. But this was followed by a short period without victories. Managed from 1962 by construction magnate, Wilhelm Neudecker, Bayern faced disappointment in 1963, when they were not allowed to play in the newly established Bundesliga.

But two years later FC Bayern stormed the so-called upper house of German football, coached by Tschik Cajkovski, who died in 1998. The club then entered an extraordinary period of development, which saw the emergence of Franz Beckenbauer and other great names in Bayern's history.

Beckenbauer had joined the Reds instead of the Blues (Munich 1860) after an argument, and Cajkovski now played him in the promotion play-offs. Behind him, in goal, stood a certain Sepp Maier. In front of him, on the opposite side of the pitch, a stocky young man called Gerd Müller (whom Cajkovski would later affectionately dub 'the little fat müller') played the ball with consummate reliability.

It was this axis that first brought Bayern world fame. They finished third in their first Bundesliga year in 1965/6. Beckenbauer and Maier were rewarded with a place in the national squad that flew to Britain, where Germany's World Cup efforts only ended when they lost to the hosts, England, in the final. But Bayern's football year didn't go by without a title. They had won their second Cup victory, a 4-2 win over Meidericher SV, before the World Cup tournament. In front of60,000 spectators in Frankfurt, Ohlhauser, Beckenbauer and Brenninger (2) scored the goals.

1967 saw the Bavarians conquer their first European summit. Immediately after winning the Cup 4-0 over Hamburg SV, Beckenbauer's team achieved a kind of double. Franz 'Bull' Roth, the player who regularly scored the vital goals and earned the name 'Mr. European Cup', scored in the 109th minute to bring Bayern a 1-0 victory against Glasgow Rangers. The European Cup Winners' Cup belonged to the Bavarians. The dream had come true in Nuremberg.

1968 to 1976

The Golden Years

1968 was a year of upheaval. Branco Zebec took over from Cajkovski and went as far as banning all beer consumption. Yet despite the experts' gloomy predictions, the fans were not denied victory. This time it was a real double: the Championship with an eight-point lead over Alemannia Aachen, and a national Cup victory over Schalke. But meanwhile, a team was emerging that would keep Bayern busy for years to come: Borussia Munchengladbach. The Gladbach Colts took the national title in 1970 and 1971, both times defeating Bayern.

When the Munich team regained the crown in 1972, this time in the new Olympic Stadium and coached by Udo Lattek, there was more than one cause for celebration. Gerd Müller now topped the statistics table with 40 goals in one season and the team had collected 55:13 points - another Bundesliga record. So it was almost inevitable that Lattek's team would bring home the DFB Cup, winning 2-1 in extra time against Cologne.

Two further championships followed under Lattek. Then came Bayern's first complete football triumph: the 1974 European Champions' Cup. Schwarzenbeck (The Cat) pulled Bayern level at 1-1 against Athletico Madrid in the last minute of extra time in Brussels, forcing a replay, which Beckenbauer's men won 4-0(Uli Hoeness and Gerd Muller each scoring twice).

In the same year, Germany won the World Cup, defeating Holland in the final in Munich. Six Bayern players were on the pitch for the 2-1 victory: Maier, Beckenbauer, Schwarzenbeck, Breitner, Hoeness and Müller. Two of them scored the goals: Breitner's penalty kick, and Müller's unforgettable shot on the turn.

Though Bayern took time out of the Bundesliga until 1980, internationally they achieved a European treble. The Bavarians won the European Champions' Cup in 1975 with a 2-0 victory over Leeds in Paris (Roth and Müller) and again in 1976 with a 1-0 win over St. Etienne in Glasgow (Roth), both times coached by Dettmar Cramer. Completing the treble, the European club won the 1976 World Club Championship (0-0 and 2-0 against Belo Horizonte). But these were to be Bayern's last major titles of the century...

1977 to 1990 

Changes and a New Beginning

1977 was a year of change and a year without titles. Franz Beckenbauer said a temporary farewell to the club and headed for Cosmos New York and the US League. A year later, Gerd Müller would follow him across the Atlantic to Fort Lauderdale.

In 1979, at just 27 years old, Uli Hoeness became manager, replacing Beckenbauer advisor, Robert Schwan. Pal Cernai succeeded Guyla Lorant as coach, and club president, Neudecker, left when the team rejected former Lion, Max Merkel, as coach. The new boss of Bayern was Willi O. Hoffman.

But better times lay ahead. In 1980, Paul Breitner and the young Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the pair dubbed 'FC Breitnigge', led Bayern to its first championship title for six years. In 1981 the trophy returned to Munich again, and in both years HSV, Stuttgart and Lautern took second, third and fourth places.

1982 witnessed the legendary cup victory over Nuremberg, which Bayern won 4-2 after trailing 0-2. Dieter Hoeness, his head bleeding and bandaged, played on tothe end of the match and contributed one of the goals. But in the same year there was defeat in the Champions' Cup, where Bayern lost 1-0 to Aston Villa.

And there was defeat for Germany in the World Cup final against Italy, though Breitner entered the history books as the only German to have scored a goal in two World Cup Finals. Still, Bayern's achievements did not go unrecognised. Eleven times between 1965 and 1981, Bayern produced Germany's footballer of the year: Beckenbauer (4), Maier (3), Muller (2), Rummenigge and Breitner.

In 1983, Lattek returned. A year later, Bayern beat Gladbach in a penalty shootout in the 1984 Cup final. In that match, Lothar Matthäus gave away his last penalty for the Colts, before transferring to the Bavarian club. Meanwhile, Kalle Rummenigge, now so famous that an English pop group had immortalised his 'sexy knees' in song, moved to Inter Milan for a record transfer fee of 11 million marks.

A year later, with new players Sören Lerby and the youngWiggerl Kögl, Bayern took the German championship. Dr. Fritz Scherer took over as manager and 1987 brought another championship victory. But a bitter 2-1 defeat by FC Porto in the Champions' Cup final in Vienna destroyed the team morale.

In 1988,Jupp Heynckes arrived to take on the task of building a new team, following the departures of Matthäus, Brehme, Eder, Hughes, Michael Rummenigge and Pfaff. But though Heynckes brought home the 1989 and 1990 Champions' titles, the European Cup continued to elude the Munich club. Nevertheless, when Germany became world champions again in 1990, the team included six Bayern players: Augenthaler, Reuter, Thon, Kohler, Pflügler and Aumann.

1991 to 1999

 Forward Into the Next Millennium

Heynckes left in the 91/92 season and was replaced by Sören Lerby. But Bayern didn't recover, and with relegation now threatening, Erich Ribbeck took over. Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who had both offered their help if needed, now becamevice presidents of Bayern Munich. In the 93/94 season, the 'Kaiser' stepped in for the luckless Ribbeck and Bayern took the championship.

Next came the Trap era. But though Giovanni Trapattoni was popular with the players and the media, he didn'tbring Bayern the success it craved. Instead the team had to swallow sixth place in the 94/95 season and defeat by Ajax Amsterdam in the semi-final of the European Cup. So Otto Rehhagel arrived, and with him stars like Klinsmann, Herzog and Sforza.

But Rehhagel also had to go in the second half of the season, even though Bayern reached the final of the UEFA Cup with two unforgettable semi-final games against Barcelona. After a 2-2 draw at Munich's Olympic Stadium, it looked as if it was over. But the return match at Barcelona's Estadio Camp Nou turned into a victory parade. Babbel and Witeczek scored the goals in that 2-1 victory on 16th April 1996, which the fans still talk about to this day.

Franz Beckenbauer, President of Bayern Munich since 1994, was amongst those standing on the sidelines during the final matches. That year, the 2-0 and 3-1 against Orondins Bordeaux gave Bayern its first title win in this competition, but it was Dortmund who became national champions.

Trapattoni returned to the club. Two more years as Bayern coach brought two further titles: Champions in 1997, Cup winners in 1998. When the Maestro left, a whole city bowed its heads in respect. He had sealed his place in the hearts of the fans with a passionatespeech that attained cult status for phrases like 'The bottle's empty. We're all smashed'.

Ottmar Hitzfeld succeeded Trap and achieved a near perfect first year with a 15th Championship victory, and appearances in the DFB Cup final and Champions League final. But that 2-1 defeat by Manchester United in Barcelona, when European Cup victory disappeared in a matter of a few seconds, was a bitter pill to swallow. Can Hitzfeld, Effenberg and the rest of the team recapture what was lost last year in the coming season, which includes FC Bayern's 100th birthday on 27th February? The timing would be perfect.

2000-2003

Emotion, drama and glory

Bayern opened the new millennium in spectacular fashion, claiming the Champions League, the domestic championship, the World Club Cup and the German Cup in quick succession.

Bayern ended the old millennium on a low note with the devastating defeat to Manchester United in the 1999 Champions League final, but the team built around Oliver Kahn, Stefan Effenberg and Giovane Elber swiftly set about making amends in the new century.

Long-standing rivals Real Madrid felt the effects of Bayern's determination early in the year 2000 as the Reds put no less than eight goals past the Spanish giants in the space of eight days, winning 4-2 at the Bernabeu and 4-1 at home. The sides met again in the semi-finals, but this time Real took revenge, winning the tie with a 2-0 success at home and a crucial away goal in Munich's 2-1 win at the Olympic Stadium.

Ottmar Hitzfeld's men still collected silverware that season, entering the last week of the Bundesliga campaign neck-and-neck with Bayer Leverkusen. The Rhineland outfit fell to a shock defeat against relegated Unterhaching, allowing Bayern to pip them to the title. A week later, the Reds took revenge for the previous year's German Cup final defeat to Werder Bremen with a 3-0 win against the same opponents in the Berlin showpiece, sealing the third league and cup double in the club's history. Oliver Kahn was named German Player of the Year 1999-2000.

There was even better to come in 2000-2001. The omens were not good after an early German Cup exit to unfancied Magdeburg, but after 34 Bundesliga matches, Bayern again finished top of the standings. And again the glory was earned in dramatic fashion as Patrik Andersson blasted a stoppage-time equaliser in Hamburg with almost the last kick of the last match, snatching the title from rivals Schalke 04, whose game had already finished. The Schalke fans had celebrated - for just four minutes.

Brimming with confidence after the knife-edge finale, the Reds travelled to Milan on 23 May 2001 for the Champions League final against Valencia. Bayern had been on a European revenge mission all season, knocking out Manchester United in the quarter-finals and then seeing off Madrid with a 1-0 away win and a 2-1 success at home. Olli Kahn was the hero of that unforgettable night in Milan, saving three penalties in the shoot-out after the match had finished 1-1 after extra time to seal Munich's fourth European Champions Cup title, a quarter of a century after a the previous success.

2001-2 was always likely to be a let-down, although Bayern still ended the campaign with a trophy. Dortmund and Leverkusen finished above the Reds in the league and Schalke registered a 2-0 success over Munich in the German Cup semi-final, but a Sammy Kuffour goal sealed a 1-0 victory against Boca Juniors in November 2001 and the Reds brought home the World Club Cup for the second time in their history. The Champions League campaign ran until the quarter-finals, where Real put an end to Bavarian hopes.

Germany's most successful club bounced back in the Bundesliga the following year, winning the 2002-3 title with a massive 16 point advantage over surprise runners-up Stuttgart after totally dominating the domestic season. The Reds kept their focus for the German Cup final and cruised to a 3-1 victory over Kaiserslautern including a Michael Ballack brace. The playmaker successfully stepped into Stefan Effenberg's shoes and claimed the Player of the Year accolade as Bayern sealed their fourth double.

The one cloud was a first round Champions League exit, although even that had a silver lining. A certain Roy Makaay of Deportivo La Coruna single-handedly knocked out the Reds with a stunning display in front of goal - but this same Makaay set off in pursuit of glory for Bayern the following year.

FC Bayern Munich

FC Bayern München is a German sports club based in Munich, Bavaria (München, Bayern). In English the name should literally be Bavaria Munich but is usually referred to as Bayern Munich. It is best known for its professional football team, which is the most successful club in German football, having won 20 Bundesliga titles and 14 cups.

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 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 and with more than 142,500 members. There are also more than 2,000 officially-registered fan clubs with about 132,000 members. The club has other departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis, referees, and senior football with more than 1100 active members.