Founded in 1900, Bayern Munchen have become Germany's most successful team of all time. They are now Germany's biggest club both in terms of the size of their trophy cabinet and their bank account, and their solid financial footing means they should be able to dominate German football for some time to come. It was not always so however. Bayern Munchen only won one league championship in almost seventy years since their foundation and were not considered good enough to be included in the inaugural season of the Bundesliga in the 1963/64.
Prior to World War II, Bayern Munchen appeared in the German Championship play-off final only once, and the club emerged victorious to win what would be their only honour until a cup win in 1957. Eintracht Frankfurt were the victims in 1932 as the Bavarian side won the play off two-nil. Whilst the region was Germany's most successful in the years between the war, it was the team from Bavaria's second city, Nuremberg who were to dominate, 1.FC Nurnberg winning the honours six times between 1920 and 1936. Although TSV Munchen 1860 had reached the final in 1931, their only appearance before the foundation of the Bundesliga in 1963 when the championship would be decided on a league basis would be remembered for a three-two defeat at the hands of Hertha BSC Berlin. A one-nil defeat of Fortuna Dusseldorf in the 1957 cup final brought Bayern Munchen their second trophy, and the city's first piece of silverware since the end of World War II. Despite this, when the DFB chose a single representative from each city to make up the new national league, TSV Munchen 1860 were selected. Within two seasons, Bayern had won promotion to the top flight, where they have played their football ever since. That year, the 1964/65 season, they scored an incredible one hundred and forty six goals in just thirty six games to win the Regionalliga South, Ohlhauser finding the net on forty two occasions to finish as the division's top scorer. The club dropped just three points to win their promotion play off mini-league and the following season made their Bundesliga debut.
The national league underwent its first expansion the year Bayern Munchen entered their first campaign. They proved that they were there to do more than simply make up the numbers by finishing in third place, only their goal average keeping them off the runners-up spot. The 1965/66 season was also notable for a cup win, MSV Duisburg being defeated four-two in the final. These fine achievements were overshadowed however, by TSV Munchen 1860 winning the first (and only) league title in their history. Under Yugoslav coach, Tschik Cajkovski, Bayern Munchen were soon to become the city's dominant team, and the following season was to set a pattern which has been repeated until the present day. Whilst TSV Munchen 1860 finished in mid table, Bayern Munchen finished in a very respectable fifth position, won the cup for the second time running and brought European glory to the region, beating Glasgow Rangers in the European Cup Winners Cup final in nearby Nuremberg. A goal from Franz Roth after one hundred and eight minutes was enough to win the club their first European trophy. Gerd Muller finished up as the tournament's top scorer with nine goals and the team of this era also featured two more of the most famous names in German football history, Sepp Maier and Franz Beckenbauer. Another Yugoslav, Branko Zebec took over the coaching duties and in his first season in charge, Bayern Munchen won the league title. They dominated the 1968/69 season from day one, winning maximum points from their first five games, including a three-nil "away" win over TSV Munchen 1860 in their second match (at this time, the two Munich clubs shared the Grunwalder stadium). Eventually Bayern Munchen won the championship by an eight point margin and a two-one defeat of FC Schalke 04 in the final of the DFB Pokal completed the domestic double. Bayern became only the second club to win both of Germany's domestic trophies. Schalke themselves were the first to complete the double, back in the 1936/37 season.
March 1970 saw the arrival of yet another coach, this time Udo Lattek, who had been assistant coach to the West German national side. His arrival preceded one of the club's greatest eras. After Lattek's arrival, the club went unbeaten at home for more than four years, the seventy three match run ending in September 1974 when FC Schalke 04 won two-nil at the Olympiastadion, the new stadium built for the 1972 Olympic games. Bayern Munchen finished runners up in the Bundesliga in 1969/70 and 1970/71, missing out on the title by two points in Lattek's first full season in charge. The year was not entirely without glory however, as 1.FC Koln were beaten two-one in the final of the DFB Pokal. Bayern Munchen won the league title for the next three seasons in succession, their magnificent home form proving crucial in 1971/72 and 1973/74 when the championship race was closely contested. They won the title much more emphatically in 1973, with an eleven point margin separating Bayern Munchen from their nearest rivals, 1.FC Koln.
By now, Beckenbauer was occupying the sweeper's role he would become associated with, and it was his vision that characterised Bayern Munchen's European Cup campaigns and won him the honour of being voted European Footballer of the Year in 1972. Eventual winners Ajax of Amsterdam dashed the German club's hopes at the quarter final stage of the 1972/73 competition, but Gerd Muller scored half of Bayern Munchen's twenty two goals to finish as the tournament's top scorer and justify his position as runner up in the previous season's European Footballer of the Year poll. Muller would be the European Cup's top scorer for two of Bayern's next three campaigns, all of which finished in triumph for the Munich club as they extended their dominance to cover the whole of Europe. A goal almost at the death of extra time in the 1974 final was enough to secure a one-one draw and a replay against the Spanish champions, Athletico Madrid. Muller and Uli Hoeness each scored twice in the replay, which Bayern won four-nil to become the first German side to win the European Cup. Muller was again on target in the final the following year, as Leeds United's hope were dashed by two late Bayern Munchen goals at the Parc des Princes in Paris. Their victim's en route to the final in the 1975/76 contest included Malm?FF, Benfica and Real Madrid to set up a final against AS Saint-etienne. This time Muller did not score, but a goal from Roth in the fifty seventh minute was enough to complete a remarkable hat trick of victories. Muller was joint top scorer in the tournament the following year with five goals, but the club's campaign ended at the quarter final stage and despite appearances in the final in 1982 and 1987, the last time Bayern Munchen won the trophy remains the 1976 victory.
The club's success in Europe was not without it's cost, and 1974 was the last Bundesliga title that Bayern Munchen would win in the 1970s, Borussia Munchengladbach attaining supremacy on the domestic scene. By their own standards Bayern's form was poor and in the 1977/78 season, they failed to win a single game away from home and finished in twelfth position, in what still remains the club's worst finish since joining the Bundesliga in 1965. A year later, Hungarian coach Pal Csernai assumed command of the team, and success soon followed. Csernai introduced a system of play that remained the same regardless of the team's opponents. The club's sixth Bundesliga title was clinched in the penultimate game of the season with a three-one away win against VfB Stuttgart who ended the season in equal third place. The European Footballer of the Year, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, was the new star of the side, and as he won the accolade for the second year in succession in 1981, Bayern retained the Bundesliga crown. The following year saw the club reach two cup finals, with success in the DFB Pokal coming by way of a four-two victory over 1.FC Nurnberg in the final balanced out by defeat in the European Cup final, where Peter Withe's goal after sixty seven minutes was enough to win the trophy for Aston Villa.
Bayern Munchen were in a transitional period as by now, the last of the Beckenbauer generation had left the club and a new side was settling in. Rummenigge left in 1984, and his replacement, Lothar Matthaus has become one of the greats of the German game. The last piece in the jigsaw was the return of Udo Lattek, the Hungarian coach who had master minded Bayern's last period of domination ten years previously. It proved to be an even better time for Bayern on the domestic front, as the club triumphed in the Bundesliga five times between 1984/85 and 1989/90. The only season they did not win the league, 1987/88, they finished as runners-up to Werder Bremen. A five-two victory over VfB Stuttgart in the DFB Pokal final in 1986 completed the domestic double for Lattek's all conquering side. Lattek was unable to repeat the success he had enjoyed in European competition in his previous tenure at the club, and despite reaching the European Cup final in 1987, two late goals in the space of two minutes from FC Porto were enough to overturn the early lead that Kogl's goal had given the Germans.
The nineties have been characterised by frequent changes in the management of the club. Beckenbauer returned as coach and led the team to the Bundesliga title in 1994, before being elected club president and replaced as coach by Giovanni Trapattoni. Otto Rehhagel replaced him in time for the 1995/96 season, before Beckenbauer himself took over the reins with a few games left at the end of the season. The Bayern legend's intervention was not enough and Borussia Dortmund ran out eventual winners. Bayern were able to write themselves into the European record books that season however, as they became one of an elite group of groups to win all three major European competitions, Jurgen Klinsmann scoring in every round including the final, which was won over two legs against Bordeaux. In the close season, Beckenbauer resumed his position in the boardroom and Trapattoni returned to take over the coaching duties. Bayern Munchen won the Bundesliga title in style. The only thing which marred a good season was the incessant squabbling and scandals which racked the club internally and earned them the nickname "FC Hollywood". Trapattoni even requested permission from Beckenbauer to accept the offer of a coaching post at Roma, but Beckenbauer would not allow it.
Riding high as defending champions and as the richest club in German football, the only way for Bayern Munchen to go is down or strive to dominate European competition once again. It seems that many of their internal problems have been resolved, and Trapattoni recently stated that his side have "not only the strength but also the will to win" and the German press have started to call the club "FC Harmony". The Bundesliga is one of the richest leagues in the world, so the club should have the financial resources to compete at the very highest level, but it will take more than money for Bayern to recapture the form that arguably made them the greatest team in the world in the mid seventies. Time will tell if their team spirit and renewed sense of purpose will be what is needed. |
发表于 2002-8-11 10:29:15
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发表于 2002-8-18 08:43:18