Karin Danner - Pioneer, Strategist, Visionary

"Bayern Munich is my life. It's in my heart and will remain in my heart until the end." Not many people can make a statement like that as credibly and truthfully as Karin Danner. Women's football at FC Bayern is "her work, her life's work", as president Herbert Hainer summed it up. At the end of the season, the department head will bid the club farewell and in the documentary "Karin Danner - Pioneer, Strategist, Visionary" FC Bayern looks back on the life and achievements of the now 64-year-old.

By the age of 11, Danner had already learned to brush aside obstacles that were put in her way when it came to playing football. She and her club SV Horchheim had to pay a fine of 20 Deutschmarks to the association every time she made an appearance in a match. She was still too young, it wasn't allowed. Fortunately, the native of Marnheim didn't let that stop her. In 1977, at the age of 18, she made the move to Munich. "Even back then it was a great honour to play for FC Bayern. For me, a childhood dream came true." Her entire home village was proud and Danner was determined to prove to everyone that she could make it.

She did make it, even if the road was often a rocky one. For Danner as well as for women's football. In the end, however, the road always led uphill and one constant remained: FC Bayern. The 18-year-old found her first lodgings in the state capital with the family of Gustl Hausberger, FCB's head referee from 1968 to 2003. The club also found her her first job at the sports retailer Sportscheck. Her second career as the first full-time women's football manager at Bayern followed, then promotion to the Bundesliga and her first trophies. "Today, Bayern Munich is one of the top clubs in women's football in Germany and that is definitely thanks to Karin Danner," said Herbert Hainer.

In our documentary, companions such as Lydia Köhl and Sissy Raith, as well as honorary president Uli Hoeneß, describe how hard this had to be earned: "It was also a struggle within our own club, because FC Bayern didn't have the appropriate awareness. The flagship was always the men's team, and it took quite a long time for the women's team to be given their due." And that was despite the fact that FCB had already taken on a revolutionary role in 1970 when they founded their own women's team long before the DFB ban would be lifted. 53 years later, Karin Danner hands over the reins of a steadily growing and ambitious department whose first team have worked their way up to the Allianz Arena. The pioneer, the strategist, the visionary is saying servus - and will bid farewell on Sunday, 28 June, at the FCB women's season finale.