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BAYERN FAMILY 2February 2025
102
Palace of Accra: When you enter the foyer of Kuffour‘ s house, you immediately realise this man has come a long way.
That provides an opportune moment to ask a delicate question: Would Kuffour watch the 1999 Manchester United final defeat again, right now, right here, on his sofa, on his giant television? We’ ve brought a DVD along.” No“, he says, he laments,” no, no, no, I can‘ t – it still hurts too much.” Kuffour slaps his lapel, where the club crest used to be, where his heart beats, and he almost crushes the flower in his buttonhole. He‘ s been avoiding this game for over 25 years, he says.” Maybe I‘ ll watch it with my kids sometime.“ The three teenagers live in London, where they go to school and university. One of them is a Man United fan.” He googles clips of the game on YouTube from time to time, and I always say, turn that off!“ says Kuffour.
Life is not always golden
Next to the sofa is a display case with Kuffour‘ s greatest successes. The silver Champions League medal from 1999 is in there, next to the golden one from 2001. He treats both with the same reverence. Football is like life, not always fair. That‘ s part and parcel of it, he believes.” We were the better team in 1999, we were unlucky.“ No one shed more tears on the Camp Nou pitch after the final whistle than Kuffour, the only non-German player in the starting XI from Munich. Bayern fans will never forget that. Referee Pierluigi Collina came over to him, the injured Bixente Lizarazu rushed down from the stands,” but I couldn‘ t control myself“. United‘ s wonder strikers Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole” couldn’ t get past me – and then the game was turned on its head“. Karin Potthoff
THIS IS FC BAYERN: YOU DON‘ T GIVE UP. EVER. MIA SAN MIA
had a special shirt printed for him, which he‘ d wanted to show off after the victory.” Thank you, God,“ it read.” But I couldn‘ t wear it.“ On the night of the defeat, Kuffour hid away in his room. No banquet, no party. Again and again people knocked on his door, saying he really should come out.” I always said I‘ d be right there, but I couldn‘ t.“ Instead, he talked to his mama on the phone in Ghana. She cried. And with his daughter in Ghana. She cried too. When he landed in his home country two weeks later, he was welcomed at the airport by lots of fans.” The whole of Africa was behind me in the final,“ he remembers. He received letters from all over the continent. The message was always the same:” Sammy, you‘ ll come back from this!“ And sure enough, the 1999” mother of all
102 FC Bayern Magazine