Edmund Stoiber stepped down as chairman of the FC Bayern München eV advisory board on Friday and was appointed honorary chairman of the committee – the first person in the club's history to hold this position. The former Bavarian Minister-President had been a member of the advisory board since 1988 and chaired it since 1992. He has been a member of FC Bayern for 60 years and will be honoured for this achievement together with other milestone members before Sunday’s match against Hoffenheim at the Allianz Arena. In an interview, Stoiber talks about Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeneß and Manuel Neuer, and explains why he describes coach Vincent Kompany as the “king of communication”. “This team has style,” he says of Bayern’s 2025/26 team.
Mr Stoiber, you have been a member of FC Bayern since 1966. You only joined the CSU in 1971. Does that tell us who you support most?
“[laughs] I was already interested in politics as a teenager, and I distributed leaflets while I was studying law. But actually, I didn't come from a particularly political family. And I was a fan of FC Bayern long before I became a member. In 1950, I followed the World Cup in Brazil on the radio, and afterwards I started studying the tables in the newspaper at home in Oberaudorf. Football had grabbed me. I wanted to know which clubs there were in my area.”
And that's how you came across FC Bayern?
“These tables listed clubs with names like Wacker, TSV, TuS, SpVgg – and suddenly I saw ‘Bayern München’. I asked my father if it was a club that played for the whole of Bavaria. He said no, it was a club from Munich. From that moment on, I knew this is my club. The name connects everything. Today, marketing strategists would probably have to organise long meetings before they could come up with a name like that. When we used to travel from Oberaudorf to Munich for Bayern games, maybe once or twice a year – we couldn't do it more often than that – it was a trip around the world. It was great. You can't imagine that today. We're still talking about the time before the great Franz Beckenbauer/Gerd Müller era.”
You submitted your membership application, as you once said in an interview with FC Bayern's member magazine ‘51’, because you were annoyed that FC Bayern was not allowed to become a founding member of the Bundesliga.
“To this day, I consider that to be a fundamental error on the part of the German Football Association. It hurt me at the time and annoyed me greatly. Looking back, however, it was certainly a stroke of luck. The young team around Franz Beckenbauer was able to develop in peace. After their promotion, a commentator once said: ‘This Bayern team plays like a bunch of rascals who throw away their school bags and get started’. Football has always been the emotional part of my life. When I was travelling as Bavarian Minister-President – whether in the USA, India, South Africa, Brazil or Argentina – my staff always had to keep me up to date on Bayern. If they said the connection was bad, I knew it wasn't a good result [laughs].”
But the results are definitely good at the moment.
“Vincent Kompany has won over the hearts and minds of the team. In my eyes, he’s a master communicator. For me as an observer, one of the most impressive games I’ve ever seen was the 2-1 win in Paris in the Champions League this season. A dominant first half with outstanding attacking play. And then a second half in which the team defended with great discipline. Two completely different phases – both at the highest level. Games like this show that the team's internal clock is right, because without such stability, performances like this would not be possible. I still remember our ‘FC Hollywood’ days – we are a long way from that now. This is also because everything fits at the top, from president Herbert Hainer to the board around Jan-Christian Dreesen, Max Eberl and Rouven Kasper.”
Which player do you like best?
“I like them all. But when you see how 17-year-old Lennart Karl is permanently in the starting line-up – that was unimaginable for a long time – it warms my heart. Harry Kane is a striker who defends the whole pitch, something I've never seen in my 60 years with FC Bayern. Jamal Musiala always has to be mentioned; Michael Olise inspires every football fan. But what I like best is that these are all players who are among the best in the world, and yet they are modest in their demeanour. No one puts themselves above the others; rather, they all signal: ‘I am part of the whole’. That attitude impresses me. Take Manuel Neuer, for example. He has won everything, is the greatest goalkeeper of his time, and yet he’s a completely normal person to deal with. You won't find anyone who says otherwise. This team has style. And they hit passes over 70 metres and the ball stays at their feet. That is technical perfection. I always wanted to be able to do that too, but the ball always bounced off mine [laughs].”
Our identity means self-confidence, responsibility, overcoming difficulties, letting our achievements speak for themselves, not complaining but getting things done. In Bavaria, we get things done. That's our mentality.
Edmund Stoiber
What does ‘Mia san mia’ mean to you personally?
“It’s the ultimate expression of Bavarian identity. The Free State has a long history and a rich culture. Our identity means self-confidence, responsibility, overcoming difficulties, letting our achievements speak for themselves, not complaining but getting things done. In Bavaria, we get things done. That's our mentality. ‘Mia san mia’ also stands for togetherness, and I have always seen that as a credo in the advisory board as well. We advise the executive committee internally, trustingly and constructively. If you want to get ahead, you can't complain. Bavaria started from the bottom – in the state as well as in football. From the depths of the room, so to speak, with a lot of tradition, always moving forward.”
How did you become a member of the advisory board?
“In the 1980s, my wife, my children and I – head of the State Chancellery at the time – regularly sat in the stands of the Olympic Stadium. At some point, the then president Fritz Scherer approached me and said that if I was at the stadium so often, I could get involved. I’m incredibly proud to have been able to accompany my club in this role for so many decades. I still remember the double celebrations in 1969, at Sendlinger Tor in Munich, where I was of course there as a fan. Or the first continental title in 1967 with the European Cup Winners' Cup. It was raining at the stadium in Nuremberg at the time, but I didn't even notice that I was getting wet, I was so happy. I said to the Nurembergers, who used to be record champions: ‘You were in the lead for so long, now it's our turn. Something new is beginning!’”
What first comes to mind when you think of 60 years of passion for FC Bayern?
“Success galore, but above all the great people involved. Uli Hoeneß was a world-class player, then a pioneering manager; there is no one else like him in German football. Apart from his expertise in sport, he’s also exceptional in economic and social terms. Uli is a visionary – our basketball players also owe a lot to him. Show me another big football club in Germany that is also a leader in basketball. Of course, you can't tell the story of FC Bayern without Gerd Müller, Sepp Maier or Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who also made history as a decision-maker for so long. And we could sit together for weeks if we wanted to discuss everything about Franz Beckenbauer.”
How important was it for the club's global reputation that he became president in 1994?
“Today, we would say that it was another game-changer. FC Bayern had developed wonderfully up to that point, but with the personnel changes in the 1990s, the decisive push into the modern era came. I spent over two hours in the State Chancellery at the time trying to persuade Franz to run for president. This Munich icon had to be at the top. I’d seen him as a player, with his elegance, his ease. He simply glided past the defenders, seemingly effortlessly. And that's exactly how he later led the club, with calmness, with an overview – as if he were floating above it all. But behind everything he did was hard work. There was nothing else like it anywhere else. Figures like Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeneß and Rummenigge are part of FC Bayern's assets – they are priceless.”
Thomas Müller was one of Bayern's figureheads, as was Bastian Schweinsteiger, who, like you, comes from Oberaudorf. Are Aleks Pavlović or Josip Stanišić carrying on the Bayern gene today?
“Absolutely! I think it's great how we're experiencing a new Bayern. Pavlović and Stanišić were born here and grew up at FC Bayern. In my opinion, ‘Mia san mia’ has a great unifying power anyway, because integration is also part of our identity. At FC Bayern, I always feel a very special ‘togetherness moving forward. It's no coincidence that Franck Ribéry, Arjen Robben and Giovane Élber stayed here for ages. And I've never seen a player who didn't get involved in the Bavarian culture – Oktoberfest, the city, the people. They all like to wear lederhosen, and our FC Bayern Women like to wear dirndls. I don't want to forget that either.”
What can women's football teach us, also beyond the pitch?
“Women's football already existed at FC Bayern when it was still officially banned by the DFB. We must continue to develop everything in this spirit. Equality is a fundamental principle of our constitution. I also see in my private life how our players have become role models. My granddaughter plays football. Girls used to have male role models, today they have their own – Giulia Gwinn, Klara Bühl, Pernille Harder. That's top-level sport on an equal footing.”
Football is often referred to as the last campfire of our society. Are you afraid that it will one day go out?
“No. It won't go out. However, I do see – and this is a political observation – how much social media in particular is changing our society. The hours spent immersed in a world of one's own, the aggression, the ruthlessness – even towards children, who are often unable to comprehend many things. Society has become harsher. Not football – society. Especially in times like these, we need places of stability, and football is one such place because it brings people together. This also includes a clear commitment to democracy. FC Bayern stands firmly on the ground of our constitution. This is clearly represented by figures such as Uli Hoeneß and Herbert Hainer. FC Bayern is part of Bavarian society – a beacon that everyone looks to. That is why our ‘Red Against Racism’ initiative is so important. FC Bayern is a social factor and does everything it can to live up to this role.”
What are your wishes for FC Bayern for the coming years?
“I hope that FC Bayern remains a successful sports club and continues to have a positive social impact. A sports club shows what community means and how much cosmopolitanism, tolerance and diversity enrich our lives. A club like FC Bayern in particular can help give people direction. FC Bayern now has well over 430,000 members, partly because it intensifies dialogue with people in various formats, which is how a club should be nowadays. One thing strikes me from time to time and amuses me. When Bayern falter, people across the country ask, ‘What's going on with Bayern?’ This shows how powerful FC Bayern is as a symbol. The fans can be very proud of that.”
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