Thanks to the work of the FC Bayern Museum , we ’ re learning more and more about the early years of our club . But three of the 17 founding fathers are still unknown . We set out to find them .
February 2025
BAYERN FAMILY
MYSTERY MEN
Illustration Thomke Meyer
Thanks to the work of the FC Bayern Museum , we ’ re learning more and more about the early years of our club . But three of the 17 founding fathers are still unknown . We set out to find them .
Franz John was well prepared when he entered the Bäckerhöfl Inn near the Frauenkirche ( Church of Our Lady ) on the evening of 27 February 1900 . The management of the “ Männer-Turn-Verein München von 1879 “ ( Munich Men ‘ s Gymnastics Club of 1879 ), or MTV for short , had called something like a crisis meeting . 27-year-old John , a native of Brandenburg and a photographer by profession , was a member of the club ‘ s then still fledgling football section . He loved football and wanted to promote it in Munich . And he knew that that evening could be a decisive one . For some time , John had been trying to get the MTV footballers to join the “ Verband Süddeutscher Fußball-Vereine “ or Association of South German Football Clubs . The MTV club committee rejected this , being sceptical about the still fledgling sport of football and its dynamism and competitive spirit . John was therefore quietly planning to found a new football club and had been talking to potential supporters for weeks and collating signatures : “ The undersigned would possibly join FC Bayern ,“ it stated on the list . In addition to himself , several men , including MTV members , had already signed . Some of them were now at the Bäckerhöfl with John . The MTV bosses had got wind of John ‘ s plans and confronted him . In a fierce debate , he defended his plans . The men left the meeting together at around 9.30 pm . Just a few hundred metres further on , at Café Gisela , just behind Wittelsbacherplatz , the men founded their own football club that very evening . And John altered the title of his signatory list : He deleted the phrase “ would possibly join “. Instead , it became : “ The undersigned declare they
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