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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