Bayern’s game away at Freiburg on Matchday 24 this Friday will be a moment of history as the Munich club become the first to play 2,000 fixtures in the Bundesliga. fcbayern.com takes you back through an unrivalled story of success for Bayern in the German top flight.
Not a founding member
Rewind 60 years, however, to the Bundesliga’s formation, and things looked far from auspicious. Bayern were merely spectators when the new league kicked off on 24 August 1963. A total of 46 clubs from the four former Oberliga and the Berlin Stadtliga had applied for 16 starting positions in the newly created national top flight. Despite fulfilling all the criteria and being better placed than city rivals 1860 in the 12-year ranking used to determine the qualifiers, Bayern had to make way for the Blues since they won the southern Oberliga in the season prior to the reorganisation of the football pyramid.
Promotion and quickly into the winning groove
A team featuring Gerd Müller and Dieter ‘Mucki’ Brenninger achieved promotion to the Bundesliga in 1965.
After narrowing missing out on promotion at the first attempt, Bayern finally made the step up to the top tier in 1965. Although the club’s Bundesliga debut ended in a 1-0 defeat to 1860, the Munich Reds quickly established themselves at the top table. After finishes of third, sixth and fifth, Bayern then won their first crown of the Bundesliga era in 1969.
Bayern won their first Bundesliga title in 1969, also lifting the DFB Cup that year for the club’s first-ever domestic double.
It would be the start of an unrivalled title collection. FCB became the first club in German history to be champions three years in a row, between 1972 and 1974. They then became Germany’s outright record champions in 1987 with their 10th crown (including the 1932 championship). The crowning achievement of that is the current run of an incredible 11 titles in a row since 2013, which is an unparalleled feat in Europe’s top five leagues.
Record after record
Bayern took the outright record for most titles in Germany in 1987.
It is far from the only record that Bayern hold in the Bundesliga. For example, there’s the most goals scored in a season (101 in 1971/72), fewest goals conceded in a season (17 in 2015/16), most wins in a season (29 in 2012/13 and 2013/14), fewest defeats in a season (one in 1986/87 and 2012/13), largest title-winning margin (25 points in 2012/13), earliest title win (Matchday 27 in 2013/14) or the most consecutive games won (19 in 2013/14). Bayern are simply the benchmark in German football.
Bayern started an unprecedented run of titles over 11 years from 2013.
Far ahead in all-time table
The Bundesliga’s all-time table is headed by Bayern by a considerable margin. Using three points for a win (introduced for the 1995/96 season), the Munich club have earned 4,048 points from their 1,999 fixtures to date, which is 928 more than Borussia Dortmund in second place. A total of 4,484 goals scored (2.24 per game) and conceding on average just 1.09 goals per game are also both unrivalled figures.
Friday’s visit to Freiburg for the 2,000th game could now bring a 1,207th win and the hope of completing a turnaround in this year’s title race. No team has ever come from eight points behind after 23 matchdays to be crowned champions, but if there’s any team who could do it, then surely it’s Bayern.
Read more facts around Bayern’s 124th anniversary on Tuesday:
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