With its insolent success in the Bundesliga over the last 50 years and a quivering European build, Bayern Munich is a club that seems apart in the German league. Its sometimes humiliating results testify to a machine of surgical realism in front of the goal. In the 2020 Champions League, Bayern beat Barça 8-2. What are the secrets of such success? Is the competition bound to follow?
The reasons for dominance in the game
The Bavarian club has focused on training by attracting talented young players from the country and even Europe. The training center has a cultural heritage that is the foundation for building successful players. First of all, German rigour is a normal requirement in this country. Thus Munich players learn to be professional, punctual, efficient, responsive, creative, energetic, productive, conscientious… Do not settle for the minimum. In short, a sign of professionalism and confidence on the ground. In the same vein, we can mention the discipline to which players must comply and which lead them to a game oriented for the collective. Is it enough to have these talented players in your team to dominate the championship? It helps, but it is not enough.
Bayern Munich masters the fundamentals of football when recruiting and relies on strikers and goalkeepers of the highest level. It's true, after all, to win a game you have to score goals without conceding any. Why not choose the best in key positions in attack and defense? The order of the club's top scorers displayed below recalls the names of surface hunters making more than one defense pale, real nightmares of opposing teams. All these names are known because they are also international players who have made the heyday of the Mannschaft or the Polish national team.
⇒ Bayern Munich's top scorers ranking
1 Gerd Müller (German) Period: 1965-1979 (goals: 365)
2 Robert Lewandowski (Polish) Period: 2010-2020 (Goals: 179)
3 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (German) Period: 1974-1984 (goals: 162)
4 Thomas Müller (German) Period: 2008-2020 (goals: 124)
5 Roland Wohlfarth (German) Period: 1981-1997 (goals: 119)
(sources https://www.bundesliga.com )
Mastering longevity
The financial strength of the club is an integral part of the club's project. In 2020, Bayern Munich has a budget of €660.1 million and maintains surplus accounts for the twenty-seventh consecutive year. In the world of football, it is unusual to reach the level of Bayern Munich who do not spend more money than they generate. Its payroll, which represents less than 50% of its revenues, has a ratio that makes it possible to free up funds to strengthen its structures and invest in training. The sole owner of the Allianz Arena reimbursed in 2014 16 years in advance, the 71,000-seat stadium that is sold out at each match (pre-covid) brings 14% of the revenue to the Bavarian house. The club claims 25 commercial partners that weigh between 25% and 35% of the annual budget over the last 7 years. The longevity of the Munich club is explained in its ability to control its costs and diversify its income, a capacity that makes you dizzy!
So, when it comes to choosing for the 4th richest club in the world, the cash being available and properly managed, it is easier to extend large sums to bring in the desired players! These same players are of course attracted by the sports project and reassured by this masterfully managed budget. Recruitment suffers from very little competition at this financial level. Only clubs such as FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Paris Saint Germain, Manchester City or Liverpool FC can compete. Above all, the club often offers itself the luxury of being reasonable in the transfer market unlike its European rivals.
The shadow of the past
Very marked by the dark hours of Germany, some clubs like Bayern Munich almost disappeared. Indeed, the club won its first national success in 1932 but was denounced by the Nazi regime as a "Jewish club". The effects will slow down its development until the end of the Second World War. Not to mention the destruction of its stadium by bombing. The business was not done! Bavaria was then integrated into the "American Zone of Occupation in Germany" in May 1945 according to the Yalta agreements. American support for FC Bayern "victim of Nazism" for propaganda purposes. The Bundesliga was created in 1963 but Bayern Munich did not enter until 1965. It is from these years that he will become a cador of his championship. And since then, Bayern Munich holds the record for the most wins with 29 titles.
⇒ Final standings since 1965 (Bayern Munich enters the Bundesliga)
(sources https://www.bundesliga.com )
What does the competition do?
The rivalry with Borussia Dortmund has intensified since the mid-1990s. During this period, Borussia deprived Bayern Munich of titles several times of national victory. In 1998, in the knockout stages of the Champions League, Dortmund eliminated Munich after extra time. But the competition is not at the level of the German UFO and the statistics as well as the respective record are to the advantage of the Bavarian club. The Regional Derby is a rivalry with FC Nürnberg, a powerful German football club before its results declined from 1968, which marked the end of an era and a competitor to Munich supremacy.
Some clubs have good performances but do not last in time: Hertha BSC Berlin, FC Augsburg, Werder Bremen, FC Cologne, Eintracht Frankfurt, TSG Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig, Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Mönchengladbach, Schalke 04 or VfL Wolfsburg. Moreover, it happens that not content with dominating the championship, Munich obtains talents composing the teams in form, thus regulating any form of competition. The appetite is inexhaustible for Bayern Munich who have a bench of high-level players well stocked, not to mention the players who are part of the club but loaned to other teams.
The stability experienced by Bayern Munich is not contagious to other clubs in the championship. The latest example, on December 13, 2020, the BvB actually published a statement to formalize the news: "Lucien Favre is no longer the coach of Borussia Dortmund. BVB officials have unanimously decided to release Favre and his deputy Manfred Stefes with immediate effect." After twenty-nine months at the helm, the former coach of OGC Nice was unable to win titles for his team. The club was constantly in the shadow of Bayern Munich.
Bayern Munich: The best European football club?
Admittedly, very fragile when the machine stops, according to the defeat against Hoffenheim 4-1 in September, no danger seems to be on the horizon. The succession of years reveals statistics that panic with the many victories of Munich. Nothing seems to be able to stand in the Bundesliga, or even in Europe, against the ultimate winners of the Champions League. Its foundations seem to set apart this club which will perhaps become the muse of modern football.
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