Interview with Herbert Hainer: FC Bayern surpasses 360,000 members

Herbert Hainer turns 70 on 3 July. To mark the occasion, the president talks about the club's development, the lessons learnt from the past season and the social challenges facing FC Bayern, which marks its 125th anniversary next year, in the summer issue of the FC Bayern members' magazine ‘51’. “We can be proud that we will pass another milestone on 1 July and now have 360,000 members,” says Hainer.

In the past 12 months alone, the club has “gained well over 30,000 new members. This shows the strength of FC Bayern, that this club represents a home for many people and that people all over the world can identify with it and its values.”

Bayern seeking dialogue with fans

According to Hainer, the enormous growth in membership despite the fact that sporting success is not the same as in previous years shows “that FC Bayern is doing a lot of things right off the pitch. The focus here is on sport, not business. That creates identity.” The 2021 annual general meeting was a decisive experience for the club: “FC Bayern and I didn't come off well that day, there's no question about it. It was all the more important that we drew the right conclusions from that. In the end, this event also had the effect of bringing the club and its members closer together again.”

FC Bayern is approachable and seeks dialogue with the fans, for whom it is becoming increasingly important that a club also lives up to its social responsibility. The fact that Uli Hoeneß had called for FC Bayern to never drift to the right when handing over the presidency to him could “only strengthen” Hainer. “We are currently experiencing how a party like the AfD is dividing society. FC Bayern must show that we must stay the course. We will never drift, not to the left and never to the right. We all have a duty to protect democracy. Sport conveys core values such as cohesion, teamwork and a sense of community - everyone is equal, regardless of their background.”

The club has always had a social core, “and in recent years we have set a number of trends in favour of diversity, including through our Red against Racism initiative. Whether it's our commitment against discrimination of any kind, from racism and antisemitism to homophobia, or our projects in the area of inclusion, we won't let up an inch. FC Bayern stands for open-mindedness, tolerance and diversity. We will always fly this flag.”

Hainer: “Trophyless seasons must not become permanent”

Commenting on the past season, Hainer said that it “did not meet our expectations because we did not have the success with the men that we would have liked and expected. The fact that FC Bayern had no chance in the Bundesliga so early on was simply unacceptable. The quick cup exit also frustrated us all.”

Only the performance in the Champions League, with the unlucky exit in the semi-finals, was okay. “Our FC Bayern Women and our basketball players clearly brighten up the overall picture this year. The women have won their third league title in four years and have shown that they are getting better every year and want to establish themselves at the top level domestically and internationally. In basketball, we are cup winners and have the chance to become champions. With regard to our men’s footballers, on the other hand, we have to say that trophyless seasons must not become a permanent state of affairs.”

After 11 Bundesliga titles in a row, “you have to be realistic and say that no streak lasts forever. But that doesn't mean you leave it at that. On the contrary, it has to trigger a reflex. Nobody liked the way we played at times, that we were very varied in our performance levels and lacked consistency. Those fluctuations characterised the whole season. In the future, FC Bayern must once again bring the consistency and dominance to the pitch that it normally radiates.”

© Illustrations: Alexander Wells

You can read the full interview in the current issue of ‘51’