My first season as CEO: What they don't tell you about FC Bayern

I was recently asked whether the number 10 has a special meaning for me. In football the number 10 has an air of magic about it; for many people outside football, it marks the top of a scale - but to be honest, I've never given the number 10 much thought until now. Although I have to say there's something... monumental about FC Bayern's tenth consecutive title. I think that word sums it up well. To become champions ten times in a row, as the first team in the top five European leagues - you can only achieve something like that with a very exceptional generation of players. Our fans and all of us can be proud to be experiencing this era at FC Bayern. In my playing days, becoming champion three times in a row was at the limits of our imagination.

As a player I won the title eight times in total. My first as CEO basically felt very similar: you work towards winning the title for a season, and I always felt the responsibility as a player, as I do now as CEO. Every now and then I get the impression that it's written somewhere in our statutes, maybe in the small print, that as FC Bayern you have to win trophies every year, so that's why it also leads to a certain relief when you have something tangible in your hands at the end. But that's a good thing, because all of that continually renews the drive in you, always wanting to be successful.

Every season has special championship moments, and I can tell you very precisely what my personal moment of 2021/22 was: that the fans were able to be there again in a packed Allianz Arena for the crucial match against Dortmund.?We've all sorely missed this feeling of being able to celebrate titles together in the past two years - the fans feel the same way as we do at the club. During this pandemic, it was also debated time and again whether the spectators would come back to the stadiums, and I think that question has now been settled. Anyone who was there for our 3-1 win over Dortmund at the Allianz Arena felt once again what football can be like. It was nice to experience that special feeling of togetherness again that a trip to the stadium offers: that feeling of being united in success and in all the emotions. I went home that day very, very happy and with a very pleasant feeling.

Personally, especially in view of this tenth championship, for example, I feel a certain gratitude and also humility about how this club has developed over the decades. In the past decades, FC Bayern has always made the most out of every situation. Of course, the financial capabilities also play a role, but we see time and again in top-level international football that money alone can't buy titles. At FC Bayern, a culture has been developed that is passed on from one player generation to the next. That makes us strong. Every club has to find its way - we certainly won't let up on ours. Slacking off, letting up - there' s no such thing at FC Bayern. Here, people constantly question themselves. And with a consistency I've never experienced anywhere else. Even when you win or clinch a title, they're constantly thinking about the next step. This club is always on the move. The feeling of satisfaction never has time to spread in such a way that it could become complacency. This constant struggle here to find the best solutions is a recipe for success at FC Bayern.

When you review our season, you mustn't forget that we were missing a lot of important players long-term and that this season was also strongly influenced by the COVID pandemic. In the Bundesliga, we delivered close to the optimum. To be knocked out of the DFB Cup so early hurt us all - not to mention the quarter-final exit against Villarreal in the Champions League. But I'm sure our players and our coach have stored these experiences away so that something like that can't happen to us again - and won't. The exit against Villarreal still annoys me today. When I sit on the couch in front of the TV during the Champions League semi-final, it drives me up the wall. But something like that also works in the minds of our players. It'll spur them on. And one thing is clear: every opponent out there will try everything again next season to stop us from succeeding. But this year, our team once again refused to allow anyone to knock them off the top of the league. Everything we come up against just makes FC Bayern stronger in the end.

It's often said that there's no manual for leading FC Bayern. I can more than confirm that. Whereas I sometimes have the feeling that for the public the word 'lead' in relation to a football club means that you have to be loud. For me, however, that has only a limited connection with leadership, if any. I think I have a sense for when I need to be outspoken and when not. For me, leadership is mainly an internal thing. People at the club need to know what our goals are for the future and how we plan to achieve them. However, I’ve also learned in my first season in CEO that it is of great importance for the public that, as far as external perception is concerned, the people running FC Bayern are visible - and permanently visible. Because that creates identity.

These first two years here for me have been intense, quite a baptism of fire. But what was it former coach Otto Rehhagel once said? 'Anyone who's signed a contract at FC Bayern has to know what he's done.' That obviously applies at all times - and not only to players, but also to a CEO, for example. Our goal for the future is clearly defined: We want to offer our fans attractive, emotional and successful football, preferably with the maximum possible haul of trophies. It's a demanding task, but it always has been. Over the past decades, FC Bayern has on the whole made many right decisions, and has thus regularly carved out a competitive position for itself at the top level, both domestically and internationally. Now new challenges are coming our way. When I joined the board, the pandemic had just begun. The consequences will occupy us for some time to come, and football in general is in a state of flux with all the further professionalisation of investor clubs, a new Champions League format from 2024 and the Financial Sustainability Regulations, the further development of Financial Fair Play. Our task is complex and it'll be important for all of us at the club to continue to make good decisions. To do that, we need to think in a new, changing football world.