have joined “ FC Bayern . The collection of signatures , on which 17 names appear , became the founding document . It was the beginning of FC Bayern ‘ s history – but also includes a mystery that remains unsolved to this day . Around 124 years after that legendary night , historians Alexa Gattinger and Michael Hellstern from the FC Bayern Museum are sitting at a conference table in the Allianz Arena alongside Dr Michael Stephan , who spent many years as head of the Munich City Archive . In front of them is a copy of FC Bayern ‘ s founding charter – and a piece of research designed to unlock its final secrets . Historians have already discovered a lot about the origins of the document and its background . But the identities of the 17 men whose names appear on the foundation charter have not yet been fully clarified . “ We now know quite a lot about some of them ,“ says Gattinger , “ and at least the basics about others : date of birth , heritage , future profession . But we still don ‘ t know anything about three names on the list . And in the case of one signature , we ‘ re not even entirely sure whether we ‘ ve deciphered it correctly .“
Research for the club ‘ s anniversary
Since the opening of the FC Bayern Museum in 2012 , the historians have not only been working on further developing the permanent exhibition , but also regularly stage special exhibitions . In 2019 , under the title “ Between the studio and the pitch “, some of the founding fathers who belonged to the Munich artists milieu were portrayed in more detail : the illustrator and graphic artist Otto Ludwig Naegele ; the painter , sculptor and later aircraft pioneer Wilhelm Focke and the sculptor Benno Elkan . To mark the club ‘ s 125th anniversary , the FC Bayern Museum is planning a book about the “ Fathers of success “, the 17 founding members . We now want to find out who the three previously unknown men were . Their names according to the charter : Wilhelm Hirsch , August Evers and Erich Gottschalk – or is his first name Ludwig ? And is the surname completely different ? While the first two signatures are easy to read , the signature of the presumed “ Erich Gottschalk “ is not . And so the search begins with an enquiry to the Leipzig historian and expert on old manuscripts Pierre Meinig . He also initially thinks he recognises the name Erich Gottschalk . But then slight doubts creep in . The surname could also be Gottschall or Gottschalck , says Meinig . The only thing he is fairly certain of is that the beginning was “ Gott …“ and the name was abbreviated . And the first name ? It could also be “ Lud .“, Meinig thinks , the abbreviation for Ludwig . The absence of the dot on the i and the tiny full stop at the end of the name – provided it ‘ s not a smudge – would support this . Could we send him a better scan of the document ? A facsimile of the original foundation charter is on display in a
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BAYERN FAMILY February 2025
showcase in the entrance area of the FC Bayern Museum . It ’ s carefully removed and rescanned in the best possible resolution . This allows Meinig to examine the signature even more closely . Will he come to any new conclusions ? While waiting for news from Leipzig , the search in Munich continues . Do the names we ’ re looking for – in all the variants mentioned by Meinig – turn up in archives ? In old civil registers , telephone directories , student directories ? Or in early membership lists of the MTV , which still exists today ? After all , many of the founding fathers of FC Bayern initially played for the club ‘ s football team , which had existed since 1897 and was considered the best in Munich towards the end of the 19th century . Football was still a novelty in the city at the time . The game came to Germany from England in the mid-1870s . In Munich , football was first played on the Theresienwiese . From 1895 , the first footballers chased after a leather ball in front of astonished passers-by who would shake their heads . The first football clubs were founded a year later , largely by students , merchants and civil servants , i . e . men from the middle-classes . They used a municipal sports field in the southern part of the Theresienwiese , so-called forest playgrounds outside the city , or the Schyrenwiese in the Isar floodplains as pitches . In the autumn of 1899 , on the occasion of the “ Allgemeine Deutsche Sportausstellung “ or General German Sports Exhibition in Munich , a football match took place there between a team of southern German players and MTV . It was intended to promote football and attracted a large number of spectators . Among them was Franz John . He had only recently moved to Munich , had already played football in Berlin and was looking to join the small Munich footballing community . Whilst watching a game at the Schyrenwiese , he met “ various gentlemen from the MTV “, as he later
A closer look : A handwriting expert endeavours to decipher the more than 120-year-old document .
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