By AFP
Bayern Munich have won the Bundesliga for the eighth consecutive year and are German champions for the 30th time in the club’s proud history.
They have secured the German title 15 times since 2000 and, if they beat Leverkusen in the German Cup final on July 4, will have won the domestic double 12 times since the turn of the century.
The Uli Hoeness business model
Through a clear ethos and transfer policy of cherry-picking Germany’s best
players alongside some foreign imports, Bayern have largely dominated the
Bundesliga since the 1970s.
They last failed to win the league in 2012, when Jurgen Klopp led Dortmund to the second of back-to-back titles.
Bayern’s revenue of 660 million euros
($741 million) placed them fourth in the latest Deloitte Football Money League,
only behind Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Their financial might is the result of former president Uli Hoeness, who was at
the helm for 40 years before stepping down in November.
Hoeness, who ran a successful sausage-making business, insisted on growth being financed solely by the club’s revenues and no debt, and he was determined not to let majority investors take control.
“We have no patrons, only partners,” Hoeness proudly proclaimed with Audi, Adidas and Allianz each holding an 8.33 percent share — the remaining 75 percent is held by club supporters.
Emblematic players Bayern recruit top names, but it is then down to the players to find their place in the club’s “family” ethos.
Thomas Mueller, top-scorer Robert Lewandowski, on a career-best 31 league goals, Jerome Boateng and Manuel Neuer are pillars of the current team, just as Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery were before them.
Younger squad members like Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich and Kingsley Coman are rapidly becoming future club stalwarts.
Bayern usually sign players in their youthful prime, but the club’s history is littered with hugely-talented names, such as 2014 World Cup winners Lukas Podolski and Mario Goetze, who failed to hold down a first-team place.
Bayern have already been warned off
Manchester City winger Leroy Sane, whom the club has reportedly agreed terms
with.
“In terms of character, he doesn’t suit Bayern,” former centre-back Willy Sagnol
told French radio station RMC, warning that Sane is someone he feels is “very
inconsistent and very withdrawn”.
Mia san Mia
The club’s motto, translated from Bavarian, means “We are who we are” — and
unapologetically so. It sums up the incredible self-confidence their supporters
love and rival fans loathe. “This club is special,” says coach Hansi Flick,
“and ‘Mia san mia’ is an asset when we’re negotiating with players who are
tempted to go elsewhere.”
Few other clubs in the world have the same ruthless passion to win.
