February 2025
Paul Breitner with the Meisterschale after winning the league title in 1980. He says:“ The championship is the number one goal for FCB every year.“
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Sometimes even a World Cup winner struggles with a lack of motivation.“ I’ ve often had to overcome it and still do,“ says Lothar Matthäus. He goes jogging five or six times a week.“ And it‘ s always a struggle.“ Just like before, when there were long runs on the training schedule.“ I never liked doing that. And sometimes I just didn‘ t feel like training at all – but when I was on the pitch, I gave it my all. You always had goals to aim for, titles. That was the driving force.“ At FC Bayern, this getting back up, this“ Keep going, keep going“, as Oliver Kahn once put it, became second nature to Matthäus. He learnt that you have to keep on winning.“ You learn that here when you sign, whether Michael Olise today, Lothar Matthäus in 1984 or me in 1970,” says Paul Breitner and then raps on the table with each word he says:“ Lad. Starting now. You have. To win. Every game. Every one!“ This club ambition is passed down from generation to generation. Later, in his second Bayern spell from 1978 to 1983, when he was captain, Breitner himself made this clear to everyone when necessary.“ If you don‘ t get it, you won‘ t around for very long.“ Win every game! This greed is reflected in the numbers: since the foundation of the Bundesliga in 1963, FC Bayern have won more German championships( 32) than all other teams combined( 29); with a total of 33 titles, FCB are the German record champions, and with 20 DFB Cup victories, the German record cup winners. FC Bayern lead the all-time Bundesliga table by a huge margin. FCB have also won everything on the international stage: Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, European Cup, Champions League, UEFA Cup, European Cup Winners‘ Cup, UEFA Super Cup – only Manchester United can boast such a large haul of international trophies.“ Bayern players are always hungry, today just as much as in the past. They always want more, always want to reaffirm their success,“ Matthäus says. He won seven league titles and the UEFA Cup
in Munich in the 80s and 90s. For the 1991 FIFA World Player of the Year, the FCB jersey was like a second skin.“ Even as a young boy in Herzogenaurach, I could never lose. I hated that from an early age. That‘ s why FC Bayern and I were such a good fit. We have the same DNA.“
Suddenly insatiable
FC Bayern are often said to possess special genes, or more precisely the so-called winner’ s gene, but where does it come from? A glance at the trophy cabinet quickly transports you back to the 60s and 70s. Because that‘ s when the heady rush of success began. Up until they were promoted to the Bundesliga in 1965, FCB only won two major titles: the German championship in 1932 and the DFB Cup in 1957. But suddenly there was no stopping them. Two triumphs in the DFB Cup( 1966, 1967) were followed by the European Cup Winners‘ Cup( 1967), the first double( 1969) and the“ golden 70s“, in which the men from Munich won the Bundesliga( 1972 – 74) and the European Cup( 1974 – 76) three times in a row.“ And we would have loved to have done it a fourth time,“ says Franz“ Bulle”(“ Bull“) Roth, who bagged the opener for Bayern in three European Cup finals back then.“ The moment we
8 TITLES
PAUL BREITNER
PAUL BREITNER
XX TITEL XX SPIELE 5. SEPTEMBER. 1951
XX TITEL
XX TITEL
PAUL BREITNER
PAUL BREITNER
XX SPIELE
347 APPEARANCES
XX SPIELE
DATE OF BIRTH
DATE OF BIRTH
05 / 09 / 1951
26.09.1957
BAYERN LIFE
DATE OF BIRTH
21.03.1961
FC Bayern Magazine 83