The goals were scored in Darmstadt, but the celebrations were happening nearly 4,000 miles away across the Atlantic in New York where they enjoyed FC Bayern’s 5-2 victory. The club had invited fans to the first regional fan club meet-up outside of Europe at their new office in the Rockefeller Centre, and to get them in the mood, they watched the Bundesliga match at a watch party from 10 am local time, with bagels and Paulaner beer. The 20 fan club presidents from 11 fan clubs with a total of around 2,000 registered members from the east coast of the USA, Canada and Arizona celebrated the goals by Jamal Musiala and his teammates in the centre of Manhattan, and all fan clubs in the United States were also able to participate digitally.
The fans in the USA watched FC Bayern's Bundesliga match in Darmstadt at a joint watch party.
Diederich: "Always available for our fans at home"
“As FC Bayern, we are always available to our fans at home through our regional fan club meet-ups. At these meetings, we discuss answers to all questions together and can promote networking among the fans,” explained deputy CEO Michael Diederich. “With the meeting in New York, we have now exported our proven dialogue format to faraway places for the first time in order to intensify and further develop our personal exchange with fan clubs worldwide and to strengthen fan loyalty to FC Bayern in the long term and sustainably, even in more distant regions.” From New York City to Long Island with the slogan Mia san eine starke Insel (we are a strong island), and the Red Ladies to Mia san Montreal and Südkurve Toronto - a wide range was represented, and all those present had of course travelled in a wide variety of FCB jerseys from previous years.
Markus Meindl, director of fan and fan club support, was satisfied with the outcome: “From the experience of our regional fan club meet-ups in Germany, we know how important personal dialogue is. Through dialogue, we learn first-hand how we can further improve our offer, our service and our work.” The fan club meeting at the Rockefeller Centre in the heart of New York “showed once again how much FC Bayern moves fans all over the world and how big the FC Bayern family is. We can well imagine exporting the regional fan club meetings to other regions in the future.”
Markus Meindl (l.): “Exporting the regional fan club meet-ups to other regions in the future.”
The meeting organised by the New York Office with the fan and fan club support team in Munich was intended to give the fan club presidents the opportunity to engage in direct dialogue, ask questions and express their concerns. First, Meindl and Selina Nützel presented the work of the management at Säbener Straße. Both also explained the interaction with their colleagues in New York, before a detailed question and answer session covered all topics from administrative matters, benefits of fan club memberships, fan club visits to North America, further development of the US office's communication with the fan clubs, US fan club tours to home matches in Munich, the development of women's football and the further development of offers to improve networking between US fan clubs were discussed. In an FC Bayern quiz with questions about the club's history, players and honours, the winner received a signed jersey from the entire team.
Lively exchange between American and Bavarian culture
The fan clubs exchanged shirts and stickers, and many photos were taken of the premises in the historic Rockefeller Center, where FC Bayern has been operating its new office for several months. Down on the street, Ireland’s St Patrick's Day was in full swing, and on the 20th floor there was a lively exchange between American and Bavarian culture. Initial plans for an Oktoberfest in New York for FC Bayern fans were also discussed at the meeting. “We have already had an impressive fan base in the USA and Canada for many years, with many special fan clubs that are passionate about FC Bayern,” said Meindl to conclude. “I ‘m already looking forward to the support of the many Bayern fans at the FIFA Club World Cup in 2025.”
Last weekend, FC Bayern honoured long-standing members at the Allianz Arena:
