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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