Big stage for the soccer players of FC Bayern: The Champions League group game against FC Barcelona will take place in the arena, confirmed club president Herbert Hainer.
The soccer players of FC Bayern Munich can look forward to their second appearance in the Munich Arena. “We were drawn against Barcelona in the Champions League and we will also play the game in the Allianz Arena.”, said club president Herbert Hainer on BR television. The group match in Munich will take place on December 7th.
So far, the Bayern women have played one game in the stadium, where Thomas Müller and Co. are cheered on by 75,000 fans week after week. In March of this year, the Munich team lost 2-1 to Paris in the first leg of the quarter-finals in front of 13,000 spectators Saint Germain. CEO Oliver Kahn then spoke of one “Milestone”. Previously, the Bayern bosses had hesitated for a long time with this step.
FC Barcelona set two world records
FC Barcelona set completely new standards last season when the players around playmaker Alexia Putellas, who lost a cruciate ligament tear at the European Championship, almost sold out twice in one Camp Nou lined up.
91,553 fans came to the cult site for the Champions League quarter-finals against Real Madrid, and then for the semi-finals against VfL Wolfsburg as many as 91,648 spectators. Both times, the Catalans had offered their members tickets at a greatly reduced price and set two world records in quick succession.
Follow the trend in Europe
FC Bayern cannot and does not want to ignore the trend and will therefore offer the arena as a stage. “It was also a great experience for the women,” Hainer said. The women’s team plays “great football” and keep getting closer “towards the top of Europe”. However, the group with Barcelona, FC Rosengard and Benfica Lisbon is not easy. During the international match between Germany and France (2-1) in Dresden, several national players had called for the larger arenas to be used.
The Bundesliga opening game between Eintracht Frankfurt and FC Bayern (0-0) had already attracted 23,200 spectators – a new record for the league. A total of 47,238 fans came on the first two match days, more than in the entire first half of the previous season. Regular highlight games are to be held in larger stadiums in order to increase the audience base and offer better conditions. The top game on matchday five between VfL Wolfsburg and FC Bayern (October 23, 2022/2 p.m.) will also be played in the Wolfsburg Arena.
The FC Bayern campus only offers 2,500 places
The Bayern women’s home ground is usually their own campus, which only has 2,500 seats. The playoff second leg to the Champions League against Real Sociedad (3:1) also took place there and was watched by 1,652 visitors. The Spanish runners-up played their first leg in front of 11,000 fans. After that, Giulia Gwinn said before her cruciate ligament rupture in training with the DFB women that she now hopes “that some matches in the Champions League can be played in large stadiums”.
FC Bayern will play the Champions League group game in Barcelona on November 24th. Since this game also falls in the middle of the men’s World Cup in Qatar (November 20 – December 18), it can be assumed that this game will also be played at the Camp Nou.