February 27 – The Birth of Bayern

GUTEN Tag and willkommen to another day of OTFD action. Today it’s way back to turn of the century Bavaria, where the German powerhouse Bayern Munich was formed today in 1900.

Believe it or not, but Germany’s most successful football club started life as a gymnastics club. They’ve certainly come a long way since the days of roly-polys (no, we’re not talking about Jurgen Klinsmann’s spell at the club), as they can boast of having a trophy cabinet that contains 20 domestic titles, 13 German cups, 4 European Cups, 2 Intercontinental Cups, a UEFA Cup and a Cup Winners Cup. Not too shabby for a club that didn’t really get going until the 1960′s.

Bayern started life in the German regional leagues, where their first taste of silverware came with the 1926 championship of southern Germany. Six years later they won their first national honour when they defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in the national final, but they never really had the chance to build on this success.

This was down to the fact that Bayern had a Jewish coach and president and were in the wrong country at the wrong time. They both fled Germany following Hitler’s rise to power and Bayern were lambasted as a “Jew’s club” and almost forced out of existence as many players and staff were killed by the Nazi regime.

The immediate post-war era was a struggle for Bayern, as the 1950s saw them flirt with bankruptcy and suffer relegation before industrialist Roland Endler stepped in with some financial muscle. The Bundesliga as we know it today was established in 1963 and although Baryern were denied membership they managed to bag promotion in 1965 and things then got very exciting for the Die Roten faithful.

A young team containing the likes of Gerd Muller, Franz Beckenbauer and Sepp Maier began to start picking up trophies left, right and centre. Their first season in the Bundesliga brought a third-place finish and the German Cup. From then on in they have dominated German football, and also made their mark in Europe, where they matched the legendary 1950′s Real Madrid side and Ajax’s early ’70′s vintage in winning the European Cup three times in a row from 1974-76.

It’s not just a monopoly on trophies that Bayern have had in recent times, as just about every legendary German player has at some point represented the side known among their rivals as FC Hollywood. As well as the axis of Beckenbauer, Muller and Maier, the likes of Stefan Effenberg, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Matthaus, Michael Ballack and erâ€¦ Ally McInally have all picked up silverware whilst at Bayern.

These days they can still be found at the top of the Bundesliga, as their star-studded squad attempts to bounce back from last year’s disappointing fourth-place finish. But no one likes a show off, which is why we’re going to show you footage of one of their most infamous European nights, as Norwich City downed them at the Olympic Stadium, back in 1993. More action from distant shores tomorrow, so be there or be square.