Once upon a time: Max Eberl and Bayern

Since 1965, a total of 361 players have appeared in competitive matches for FC Bayern – many of them just once. Every month in the FCB Club magazine '51', one of these one-off players looks back at his big match. In the current edition it is the Borussia Mönchengladbach sporting director and managing director Max Eberl.

45 minutes for FCB

"My career began on the recreation ground on Josephsplatz in Munich. At the age of seven, I wanted to join a club and that was Bayern. After a lot of discussions with my mother, I actually made it into the youngest team that had just been set up at Bayern. In 1989, with the U17s, we were the first FCB team to win a German youth league title. Two years later in October – when I was in the U19 squad – Sören Lerby was appointed as the new coach. On one Wednesday a number of young talents were able to train with the first team."

"After that they said: 'Max, you can come back tomorrow.' On Thursday they said: 'Bring your kit with you tomorrow.' And on Friday I went to Stuttgart for the Bundesliga match. I didn't think much about it until I saw the line-up on Saturday morning. There at the bottom was: Eberl. I got a stomach ache straightaway. When we got to the stadium in the coach, beakers and beer cans were flying. My nervousness went off the scale. And I didn't play well. Before the opener, Michael Frontzeck left me standing. He feigned a cross, I jumped up, he pushed the ball past me and was able to cross unhindered. The coach took me off at half-time. I got a five in Kicker. We lost 3-2."

What happened later

"Three days after my Bundesliga debut, I was in the squad for the unspeakable 6-2 defeat in the UEFA Cup against B 1903 Copenhagen. I stayed with the first-team squad up to the winter break and experienced probably the most difficult phase for Bayern in the last 30 years. I played for the reserves for two years after that. By then I was enough of a realist to know that I was talented but not a Bayern player. Hermann Gerland arranged my move to Bochum where I had a great time. I was thwarted by five knee operations between 1995 and 1997. My career was hanging on a thread but I was lucky. In the end I was able to establish myself in the Bundesliga with Gladbach. Only I never scored a goal. I had a great chance in the promotion play-off against Chemnitz in 2001. We were awarded a penalty – and I missed it."

"Today I say: Rather no goals than one goal, not many have achieved that. I ended my playing career when I was 30 as I received the offer from Gladbach to become the youth director. That was the fulfilment of my second dream: of working in management like Uli Hoeneß, whose work had always fascinated me. To this day I like coming to Säbener Straße. I played there for 13 years, and was the first player to progress through all the youth teams at FC Bayern and make it to the first-team squad. That binds you."