Saturday, April 23, 2011

FC Bayern Munich Football Club


Bundesliga Bayern Munich - FC Bayern München AG FC Bayern Munich (German: Fußball-Club Bayern München, ) 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 a row (1974–76). In recent years they have been by far the most successful team in German football, winning six of the last ten championships. The club's last international title was the Intercontinental Cup in 2001, though they won their fourth European Cup the same year.

FC Bayern Munich Since the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Bayern plays its home games in the Allianz Arena. Previously the team had played in Munich's Olympic Stadium for 33 years. The team colours are red and white, and the team crest shows the colours of Bavaria. Bayern is a membership-based club with 162,187 members. There are also 2,764 officially-registered fan clubs with 192,160 members. The club has other departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis, referees, and senior football with more than 1,100 active members.

From FC Breitnigge to FC Hollywood (1979–98) The 1980s were a period of off-field turmoil for Bayern, with many changes in personnel and financial problems. On the field, Paul Breitner and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, termed FC Breitnigge, led the team to Bundesliga titles in 1980 and 1981. Apart from a DFB-Pokal win in 1982, two relatively unsuccessful seasons followed, after which Breitner retired and former coach Udo Lattek returned. Bayern won the 1984 cup, then went on to win five championships in six seasons, including a double in 1986. However, European success was elusive during the decade; Bayern managed to claim the runners-up spot in the European Cup in 1982 and 1987

Jupp Heynckes was hired as coach in 1987, but after two consecutive championships in 1988–89 and 1989–90 Bayern's form dipped. After a second place in 1990–91 the club finished just five points above the relegation places in 1991–92. In the season of 1992–93, Bayern Munich lost out in the UEFA Cup 2nd round to the (at the time) Premier League team Norwich City, who remain the only English football club to beat them at their former home ground the Olympic Stadium. Success returned when Franz Beckenbauer took over for the second half of the 1993–94 season, winning the Championship again after a four year gap. Beckenbauer was then appointed club president

His successors as coach, Giovanni Trapattoni and Otto Rehhagel both finished trophyless after a season, not meeting the club's high expectations. During this time Bayern's players frequently appeared in the gossip pages of the press rather than the sports pages, resulting in the nickname FC Hollywood. Franz Beckenbauer briefly returned at the end of the 1995–96 season as caretaker coach and led his team to victory in the UEFA Cup 1995–96, beating Bordeaux in the final. For the 1996–97 season Giovanni Trapattoni returned to win the championship. But in the following season Bayern lost the title to the just promoted Kaiserslautern and Trapattoni had to take his leave for the second time. Renewed international success (1998–present) Opened in 2005: the Allianz Arena, one of the world's most modern football stadiums.

From 1998–2004 Bayern were coached by Ottmar Hitzfeld. In Hitzfeld's first season, Bayern won the Bundesliga and came close to winning the Champions League, losing 2–1 to Manchester United in injury time after leading for most of the match. The 1999–2000 season resulted in Bayern winning their third league and cup double. A third consecutive Bundesliga title followed in 2001, won in a finish on the final day of the league season. Days later, Bayern won the Champions League for the fourth time after a 25 year gap, defeating Valencia CF on penalties. The 2001–02 season began with a win in the International Cup, but ended trophyless otherwise. A season later Bayern won their fourth double, leading the league by a record margin. Hitzfeld's reign ended in 2004, with Bayern underperforming, including a cup defeat by second division Alemannia Aachen.

Felix Magath took over and led Bayern to two consecutive doubles. Prior to the start of the 2005–06 season, Bayern moved from the Olympic Stadium to the new Allianz Arena, which the club shares with 1860 Munich. On the field their performance in 2006–07 was erratic. Trailing in the league and having lost to Alemannia Aachen in the cup yet again, coach Magath was sacked shortly after the winter break Bayern playing against São Paulo in 2007.

Former Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld returned to Munich in January 2007, but Bayern finished the 2006–07 season fourth, thus failing to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in more than a decade. Additional losses in the cup and the League Cup left the club with no honours for the season. For the 2007–08 season, Bayern Munich made drastic squad changes to help retool and rebuild. They signed a total of eight new players and sold, released or loaned out nine of their existing players. Hamit Altintop from Schalke 04, Luca Toni from ACF Fiorentina, Miroslav Klose from Werder Bremen, and record signing Franck Ribéry from Olympique Marseille headlined the signings.[24] The new additions paid off, as the Reds went on to win the 2008 DFB-Pokal and the Bundesliga, being on top of the standings on every single week of play.

On 11 January 2008 Jürgen Klinsmann was named as Hitzfeld's successor, taking charge on 1 July 2008. He signed a two year contract.[26] During the first half of the 2008–09 Bundesliga season, Bayern got off to a rocky start, winning just two games until day six, but started to catch up afterwards. Bayer Leverkusen eliminated Bayern in quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal. In the Champions League Bayern also reached the quarter-finals. They were eliminated by FC Barcelona after winning Group F and defeating Sporting Clube de Portugal in the first knockout round, achieving a Champions League record aggregate of 12–1. On 27 April, two days after a home defeat against Schalke which saw Bayern drop to the third place in the table, Klinsmann was fired. This was preceded by several disappointing results such as a 5–1 aggregate loss to Barcelona in the Champions League, and a 5–1 loss to champions-to-be VfL Wolfsburg. Former coach Jupp Heynckes was named as caretaker until the end of the season. Bayern eventually finished second, thus qualifying directly for the Champions League in 2009–10.

FC Bayern Munich then signed manager Louis Van Gaal for the 2009–10 season from AZ of Alkmaar. While under speculation due to a strand of poor results, Van Gaal managed to advance Bayern through to the round of 16 with a convincing 4–1 display over Juventus FC in Turin. They drew Fiorentina as their opponent in the round of 16 in the Champions League. On 9 March, they lost to Fiorentina 3–2 but advanced to the quarter-final on the away goals rule. In the quarter-final clash against Manchester United, Bayern achieved a similar score to their Fiorentina games, edging United 4–4 and progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League on away goals, with them winning 2–1 at home and losing 3–2 away. On 27 April 2010, Bayern beat Olympique Lyonnais 3–0 after winning 1–0 in the first leg. That result sent Bayern to the UEFA Champions League Final 2009–10. On 8 May 2010, FC Bayern won the 2009–10 Bundesliga after a 3–1 win at Hertha Berlin. Bayern also won the German Cup (DFB-Pokal) on 15 May 2010, thus securing the double. Bayern lost the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final 2–0 to Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan on 22 May 2010 in Madrid (Santiago Bernabeu Stadium).

In the 2010–11 season they were eliminated in the first round of the UEFA Champions League knockout phase by Inter Milan by the away goals rule.

Twitter Delicious Facebook Digg Stumbleupon Favorites More

 
Design by Free WordPress Themes | Bloggerized by Lasantha - Premium Blogger Themes | Blogger Templates