An ecstatic crowd of 9,500, 20 amateur players seeing their dream come true, and a total of 14 goals all made for a festival night at the Paulaner Southern Cup event in Burghausen on Monday evening. Bayern took on an amateur XI put together by long-term partner Paulaner breweries, winning by a comfortable 13-1 margin. Bundesliga top scorer Mario Gomez led off the entertainment with five goals on the night.
No fewer than 10,000 amateur players from all over Bavaria applied for the one-off opportunity of a game against Germany’s biggest club. Following a casting in front of a jury headed by Paul Breitner and TV personality Waldemar Hartmann, and a brief training camp at Bayern’s Säbener Strasse facility, organisers selected five regional teams, representing Franconia, Lower Bavaria, Upper Bavaria, Upper Palatinate and Swabia. The men from Lower Bavaria topped a final qualifying tournament and earned the privilege of facing FCB at Burghausen’s Wacker Stadium.
Fun for all
“It's an appealing, fun idea,” commented Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, as the club arrived in Burghausen with all the fit members of the senior squad. The players clearly enjoyed their evening to the full, delighting the crowd with flowing football and goals galore. “It wasn’t important how many we scored, this was all about having fun,” an upbeat Franck Ribéry said afterwards.
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