BAYERN FAMILY February 2025
Solidarity as obligation : The rescue games introduced by Uli Hoeneß will remain part of FCB ' s philosophy in the future .
events over the decades . During the difficult times of Willi Lemke at Bremen or Christoph Daum at Köln , for example , 40,000 fans would chant “ Hoeneß , you asshole “ at away games . Today , more people in Bremen want autographs and selfies from me than in any other city . At some point , people asked themselves : is he actually as much of an asshole as we always thought ? And they decided for themselves : No , he ‘ s not . Why has every day at FC Bayern been worthwhile for you ? I arrived in Munich at the beginning of July 1970 and was involved in a car accident straight away because , at the age of 18 , I was so excited about being able to train at Bayern the next day . I owe everything to this club and have never seen myself as an employee , but always as its number one fan . Gratitude is an important word for me . I feel nothing but gratitude when it comes to FC Bayern . Many fans see you as “ Mr FC Bayern “ and regard your decades of commitment as your “ life ‘ s work “. What does that do to you ? Those words are too big for me . I wasn ‘ t committed to this club so vehemently because I was interested in some kind of legacy . When I look at FC Bayern someday – hopefully from above , from heaven , and not from below – and I see a thriving club that ‘ s fun for people and imparts values to society , I ‘ ll be happy . members . These are people who don ‘ t find our style too bad and identify with it . There ‘ d be something wrong if all problems could be solved with money alone , and equally , if shaking hands no longer counted for anything . Looking back , have you achieved everything you set out to do as a young boy ? Definitely , in terms of my career . FC Bayern have become one of the top clubs in the world . We ‘ ve overtaken a lot of other clubs and have managed to establish our football club in the centre of society . When we go abroad , the other clubs keep asking us : “ How do you do it ?“ They can ‘ t believe that we can achieve that without being backed by foreign capital . I ‘ ve always believed we can do everything by ourselves . Have you made mistakes ? My biggest mistake of all was with my tax affairs . I deeply regret that , and criticism of it is highly justified . I ‘ m so grateful to my family , who provided tremendous support . Back then , I had a lot of time to think about things and learn about life . As mad as it sounds , I ’ m actually glad I had that experience . In difficult times , I think back to the blows of fate I encountered . Things like that leave their mark on you . You ’ ve spent more than 50 years at FC Bayern . Do you have more friends or more enemies ? As far as I ‘ m concerned , I don ‘ t have any real enemies . It was different in the past . The others didn ‘ t know me then and would say : “ Here comes Hoeneß with a suitcase of money to take away our players .“ We ‘ ve saved half the league from ruin with several benefit matches and
Always on the move : Hoeneß gritted his teeth for transfers worldwide – at Asunción airport in Paraguay in
1999 , he suffered a torn ligament and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge drove him to check-in in a luggage trolley .
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