Side by side for 125 years: The FC Bayern Anniversary Movie

FC Bayern is celebrating its birthday! On 27 February 1900, 11 young men, led by Franz John, the man who would later become the first FCB president, launched FC Bayern Munich in Café Gisela in the Schwabing district of Munich. The founding of the club signalled a split from the Men's Gymnastics Club (MTV), where football was (still) ridiculed as a new-fangled, English sport. Today, the German record champions proudly look back on 125 years of club history.

Short movie to mark the club's anniversary

To mark this special day, in cooperation with PLAZAMEDIA and their innovative LED stage, FC Bayern brought Café Gisela, the historic location where the club was founded to life in every detail. We invited important figures from the club and fan representatives to talk about the fascination people have for FC Bayern. Or to put it in the words of Heiner Jüngling, FC Bayern member number 1:

"Hello, dear Bayern family, it's a great honour and pleasure for me to invite you to a magical place in the old Café Gisela in Munich. This is where FC Bayern Munich was founded 125 years ago. Let's celebrate this togetherness."

Hoeneß, Rummenigge and Mia san mia

The two icons Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge also talked about this feeling of belonging at the table. "Mia san mia is a very special attitude to life. You need continuity for that," said Hoeneß, before Rummenigge recounted an anecdote starring Franck Ribéry (watch the video here). Both former world-class attackers shaped the club's management team for decades. "There's no club in the world where former players have run the show," said Rummenigge.

Maier, Breitner & Roth like in the old days

A well-known trio who once played alongside them on the pitch also took a seat in the café. Sepp Maier, Paul Breitner and Franz ‘Bulle’ Roth enthuse about the 1965 promotion-winning team (Maier: "Everything just clicked there"), the legendary 70s and the unforgettable Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller (Roth: "They were two fantastic people"). Maier also shows that he used to be a magician as well as a skilled goalkeeper, and that he was responsible for Roth's famous nickname.

Alongside Philipp Lahm, Holger Badstuber and Thomas Linke, Klaus Augenthaler provides insights into the less successful years and reveals with whom the success returned in the 1980s. The keyword here is comebacks: Linke and Lahm also completed these, both winning Europe's footballing crown shortly after historic disappointments in 1999 and 2012. Linke: "That's what characterises the club, that it consistently has players and teams who suffer defeats and then get back up again." First Barcelona - San Siro, then Munich - Wembley!

Hainer & Dreesen: Then, today and tomorrow

Herbert Hainer - FC Bayern president -, Jan-Christian Dreesen - CEO -, Hoeneß, Rummenigge, Augenthaler, Linke, Lahm ("If you come to FC Bayern, you have to deliver"), Badstuber, Breitner ("At this club, you have to win every game. Not everyone can deal with that"), Maier, Roth, Manuel Neuer, Elisabeth Hoffmann, Karin Danner ("125 years of FC Bayern also means 55 years of women's football"), Bianca Rech, Giulia Gwinn, Jovana Damnjanović, Heiner Jüngling, Stephan Lehmann and fan representatives - they all appear in the anniversary film and speak about the values of and passion for FC Bayern.

"It's a proud club," says Rummenigge. FC Bayern is unique - that was already evident in its founding years at the beginning of the 20th century and it always has been. "We have a founding history that is characterised by openness and tolerance - and by ambition. This has become part of our DNA over the decades," says Dreesen. The beginnings are linked to the present - and looking to the future offers encouragement. President Hainer: "I hope that in 125 years’ time, our fans around the world will continue to be just as proud of their FC Bayern as they are today." The first FCB president Franz John and his ten colleagues would surely be if they could see what their FC Bayern has become today.