The fact that a special event would be taking place was already apparent early in the morning. The majority of the residents of Wolfegg in the district of Ravensburg were probably still asleep on Sunday in the glorious weather when the first families - dressed in their Bayern jerseys - made their pilgrimage to the community hall, where the fan club was looking forward to Jamal Musiala's visit.
The popular and traditional meetings with Bayern’s players and bosses are part of the club's DNA and, after a three-year break due to the pandemic and the winter World Cup, were finally able to take place again – much to the delight of the 350 supporters present in Wolfegg. fcbayern.com accompanied 2023 title hero Musiala on his visit.
Musiala’s fan club debut
Due to the heavy snowfall in Bavaria in December, the Christmas visits were postponed until January and held as New Year's receptions, including at the fan club ‘La Bestia Negra 2008’, to which Musiala made the 164-kilometre long drive. Since the last visits took place in 2019, it was the 20-year-old's first fan club appointment. “It's always cool to spend time with the fans,” said the attacking artist, who was in a particularly good mood the day after the important 3-2 away win at Augsburg, before setting off on the journey towards Lake Constance.
Gustavo, Bernat, Gerland – Musiala
The fan club, which has around 1,000 members, was founded in April 2008 in Bad Waldsee in Upper Swabia and can be proud to call itself an "all-rounder" for FC Bayern matches. "We're at every home and away game," says chairman Sebastian Haibel, who was also celebrating his birthday on the day of Musiala's visit. “This event today is the highlight, it's the best day since the fan club was founded and also a reward. We are enjoying it.” Prior to the Germany international, the fan club had welcomed former players Luiz Gustavo and Juan Bernat as well as legendary assistant coach Hermann Gerland in 2011 and 2016.
Events with KIDS CLUB
To kick off the event, Musiala, who was born in Stuttgart, first had Swabian Maultaschen - his favourite dish, which he also makes himself at home. “I also think Kaiserschmarrn is very tasty, my mum makes it very well. Sometimes I treat myself to it,” he revealed during a Q&A session. The fans in attendance had the opportunity to find out everything they wanted to know from the World Cup participant. Many children were also curious to find out more, as the local SV Wolfegg football club was also holding its youth Christmas party on the same day as the fan club. Fittingly, the FC Bayern KIDS CLUB was in the community hall with a wheel of fortune, a raffle and mascot Berni to give the young fans an unforgettable afternoon.
“Our goal is to win the Champions League”
The light-hearted discussion was hosted by children's reporter Ben from Sky Next Generation, who had already interviewed coach Thomas Tuchel before the 4-0 Bundesliga win at Borussia Dortmund in November and is from the area. When he asked everyone present with a Musiala jersey to stand up, almost half the hall got to their feet. No wonder that the mercurial attacker’s sentences such as “I feel very comfortable at Bayern”, “I want to reach the very highest level” and “Our goal is to win the Champions League” were met with great applause.
Questions about Lazio, Boey, Messi and more
Musiala also spoke about the Champions League round of 16 tie against Lazio ("I scored my first Champions League goal there. Lazio play good football"), new signing Sacha Boey ("We're looking forward to him"), his closest friends in the team ("I'm closest with Leroy Sané and Alphonso Davies"), his youth idols ("Lionel Messi and Neymar"), his strongest opponents ("Dayot Upamecano and Sergio Ramos"), his shirt number 42 ("I don't know if I'll give it up again") and his goal celebration ("That was an English mate's idea").
M for Musiala
Speaking of goal celebrations, after the Q&A session Musiala and a dozen kids competed against a volunteer in a goal celebration quiz. The U11 players performed various celebrations, which Musiala and ‘his team’ - as he himself called them - had to recognise. After goals from Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappé, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Musiala and more, the final score was 10-9 in favour of Team Musiala. Fan club chairman Haibel jokingly remarked: “He must do something with football for a living...”
Honorary fan club member
After a group photo with the Wolfegg youth team, the Munich No.42 presented young reporter Ben with a jersey of his favourite player Matthijs de Ligt and was available for photos and autographs before finally receiving a special honour. As of Sunday, Musiala can now call himself an honorary member of the fan club ‘La Bestia Negra 2008’. At the end of the day, everyone involved was beaming. Guest Musiala, who had “lots of fun”, visibly enjoyed the time and thanked everyone for the “great atmosphere”, the enthusiastic fans and children as well as fan club chairman Haibel: “Jamal was always up for a good time. You can see the shining eyes of the children and it was a great day for the whole family.”
See more of the fan club visits here:
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