FC Bayern ushers in 2026 with fan club visits

To start 2026, the FC Bayern players and management headed off on their travels for a special tradition on Sunday. Once again this year, Herbert Hainer, Jan-Christian Dreesen, Vincent Kompany, Manuel Neuer and the rest put smiles on faces young and old on the fan club visits. The day after the start of training in the new year and two days ahead of the friendly at Red Bull Salzburg, Harry Kane and Co provided the fans with an afternoon to remember.

"That's what defines FC Bayern. We've been visiting fan clubs for 40 years now, which is Mia san Mia in action. The fans come to our stadium all year round and support us. Once a year, we go out to them. It's give and take, and that's how it should be," said president Hainer, summing up the fan club meetings.

Spread across three countries

The Bavarians travelled throughout Germany and beyond. President Hainer was a guest of the “Echte Freunde Hirschaid” fan club, while CEO Dreesen dropped by “De roud weißen Neifinger“ in Neufahrn in Lower Bavaria. Board member for sport Max Eberl, who already visited “Rollwagerl 93 e.V.“ in December, went to Aalen to “Ebnat Süd“. Sporting director Christoph Freund travelled to Schechen, where he met the “Rot-Weiße Lausbuam". 

Head coach Kompany spent his new year visit at “Frasdorf e.V.” in Chiemgau. Those travelling furthest afield were Tom Bischof to Ahrntal in northern Italy, Dayot Upamecano (“Bavaria 4910“, Ried) and Konrad Laimer (“Kaiserbayern Tirol“, Niederndorf) to Austria as well as Jonas Urbig (“Freundeskreis Schloßstadt Velbert”) and club legend Raimond Aumann (“Die Elche“, Bergisch Gladbach), who both flew to North Rhine-Westphalia. Like Aumann, Roy Makaay was also involved, with the former star striker visiting the “Red-White Bavaria Fanclub Nordhorn”.

Debuts and challenges

All the players and officials received an extremely warm welcome. Luis Díaz, for example, made his fan club debut and spoke about his start at FC Bayern during his visit to the “Westallgäu” club in Gestratz: "My family is very happy because there is a lot to do in Munich. FC Bayern is something very special, I feel at home here," said the Colombian newcomer, who was welcomed with Colombian flags and the FC Bayern stadium anthem. “Our stadium is outstanding because the fans are always singing and act like the 12th man, just like I know from Colombia,” Díaz continued about the Allianz Arena. Then came the highlight: Lucho was allowed to try his hand at the accordion and the alphorn – and he showed that music is in his blood.

All the players and management keenly signed autographs, posed for photos, answered questions and handed out gifts.

Kompany, Sven Ulreich („”Bavaria Oberland 2011”, Sachsenkam), Josip Stanišić (“Aiglsbach“) and Upamecano took part in beer mug lifting, while Eberl and Minjae Kim (“Allgäubomber e.V.”, Aichstetten) were successful in shooting at the goal wall. Hiroki Ito (“Red Power Taufkirchen“) played a round of cornhole and Kane (“Red-White Bombers Denkendorf e.V.“) also scored goals in table football. A day after the final of the Darts World Championships, Freund demonstrated his accuracy with the arrows.

Kane: ‘We want to win all three trophies’

“We want to win all three trophies at Bayern and made a strong start to the season,” said Kane during his Q&A session in Denkendorf. “We have a great team, a real togetherness and all the conditions are right. We have to keep working hard but we’re very confident at the moment.” For the Englishman, the cheerful afternoons with the fan clubs have become a nice custom, while it’s new territory for Jonathan Tah. “I’m really happy to be here,” said the 29-year-old on his visit to Steinsberg. “I’m doing this tradition at FC Bayern for the first time, so thank you for welcoming me so warmly.”

Bischof: Video conference with international fan clubs

Like Alphonso Davies last winter, Bischof took part in several video conferences with international fan clubs before Christmas at Säbener Straße. The calls were hosted by the FC Bayern offices in Bangkok, Shanghai and New York, with the 20-year-old speaking to over 100 supporters from the 24 global fan clubs in India, Vietnam, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Japan, Bangladesh, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, China, Hong Kong (China), USA and Canada.

Bischof answered questions and got to unwrap various presents, including traditional tea cups from Japan, boxing shorts from Thailand, a Christmas panda teddy from China and a Christmas jumper from America.

From Regenstauf-Steinsberg all the way to Indonesia – the FC Bayern fan club visits in 2026 were once again a total success. On that note, we wish you, dear FCB fans, a healthy start to the year, and the team a successful competitive restart against Wolfsburg on 11 January!

Bayern play Salzburg in a friendly on Tuesday: