BAYERN GAME February 2025
FC Bayern ‘ s life insurance policy :
Neuer shows opponents they can ‘ t get past him .
IN WINTER , I WORE AN ICE HOCKEY KIT IN TRAINING
Sepp Maier
SM : Of course , the material has been continuously developed over the past decades , but the inner surface has essentially not changed , the basic idea is still the same . There ’ s no better material for catching a ball safely . You ’ ll always have goalkeepers who let a ball slip through – but it ‘ s not down to the glove . MN : What I sometimes also do in the rain is apply a little Vaseline to the gloves , which gives me a little extra grip in difficult conditions . SM : We didn ‘ t think of Vaseline back then . In those days , it was only used for smearing on babies ( laughs ). Manu , when you hear stories like that – is it a different world ? MN : On the contrary , it sounds very familiar to me . Sepp had the same thoughts in his day that I have now : How can I prepare myself in the best possible way and do everything I can to put in my best performance on the pitch ? Sepp would also fit in perfectly today and would be a world-class goalkeeper because he always thought about progress , about being more involved in the game and coming out of his goalkeeping area . Or also in terms of communication , he told me earlier how it went with Franz Beckenbauer … SM : … I told Manu he can be glad he never had to play with him ( grins ). MN : I can well imagine that as a goalkeeper you sometimes clash with a free spirit like that on the pitch … SM : … he always accused me of giving him a slipped disc because I allegedly jumped into his back so often . MN : I ‘ m personally very grateful to him : He was one of the first people to speak out strongly in favour of my move to FC Bayern , even though we didn ‘ t know each other . I found Franz Beckenbauer to be an incredibly open person , he was immediately accessible to everyone – and in return he was welcomed with open arms all over the world . He was also always committed to ensuring that his FC Bayern were doing well . SM : I first met Franz when he joined FC Bayern , when I was 15 and he was 14 . He always had the perfect response in any situation – and was never afraid to say things in public that nobody else dared to . My humour was always spontaneous and he had this ready wit , so the two of us got on quite well together . MN : To get back to the topic of communication on the pitch , as it was with you and Franz back then – these are all things that we still deal with every day . Sepp , when you see the pitches and current training facilities here at Säbener Straße – does it make you envious ? SM : I used to have to clear my goal area myself with a snow shovel , that was quite normal . In winter , the frozen ground was rock hard in places . Because FC Bayern still had an ice hockey team back then , I got myself some ice hockey goalkeeper kit from them , which I wore in training . MN : But you didn ’ t wear a helmet , did you ? SM : No , and I didn ‘ t have a stick in my hand either ( laughs ). It was more about the knee and elbow pads . A nice side effect was that the stuff was really heavy . When I was throwing myself around in training during the week and then of course didn ‘ t wear it during the game , I felt as light as a feather . Manu , how familiar are you with Sepp Maier ‘ s goalkeeping game ? MN : I ‘ m too young to have seen all of his games . But of course I know lots of his classic moments from clips . And his methods as a goalkeeping coach are second nature to me anyway : As a child , I had a book by Sepp in which he presents various forms of training . We had this book with us on every camping holiday and my father was always there doing the exercises with me . It was written especially for children and he explained the first goalkeeping steps in there , how to dive properly and so on . I had loads of fun with that . SM : As a goalkeeping coach , it was always important to me that the training was as varied as possible , because I didn ‘ t have it myself during my playing career . Back then , the head coach told me to be there half an hour before the regular training session , or we ‘ d add another half an hour onto the end of the team session . I ‘ d then go through the normal programme , 100-metre sprints , fitness training and such like – and afterwards they would completely ruin me .
30 FC Bayern Magazine