At the anniversary gala of FC Bayern, ex-club boss Rummenigge surprises with a special advance. He rely on the FIFA president who was also present.
On Wednesday evening, FC Bayern celebrated his 125th birthday on a big scale. The German record champions invited almost 600 guests to the party location on the Nockherberg in Munich. Including numerous prominent personalities of German and international football.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Uefa President Aleksander Čeferin, DFB President Bernd Neuendorf, DFB sports director Rudi Völler and Günter Netzer were also guests. The gathered club sizes of Bayern around honorary president Uli Hoeneß and ex-board boss Karl-Heinz Rummenigge as well as the current club management and the entire professional team were of course also present.
Rummenigge said: “The baby has become a proud adult. These eleven, who founded the club at the time, came up with something special with the name Bayern Munich, because it all knows where the club is.” And further: “What has happened here in the past 50 years, you can only take the big hat. And Franz Beckenbauer, who unfortunately is no longer with us today, will look at the club proudly from top to bottom.”
Beckenbauer’s widow Heidi and son Joel were also part of the celebration society. Club president Herbert Hainer said on the red carpet: “I feel a lot of proud. When you go to the annals, what happened there, how this club has always developed, always trying to exceed yourself.” He also sees FC Bayern well positioned for the future. “We are one of the few clubs that are completely debt -free, have generated everything themselves. I am not worried about FC Bayern for the next 125 years.”
Ex-tennis professional Boris Becker (57) was also there and explained: “I have been fan for over 40 years, almost 50 years, as a little boy in Leimen my favorite club was not Karlsruhe or Stuttgart or Frankfurt, but always FC Bayern,” he said. “Of course, that was due to the players Beckenbauer, Hoeneß, Breitner. And this love has remained until today.”
Rummenigge particularly welcomed Infantino euphoric. “I am pleased that the FIFA president is coming, this is the highest official in the world in football. He has flown in from Doha, that is extraordinary and a great gesture towards the club,” he said. And used the favorable opportunity of Infantinos Munich visit to advance his concern to limit or even to cover the player salaries in the future. “At noon I talked to Gianni about whether there is a chance that FIFA will take part. I think we need FIFA in the top priority to find a solution,” said Rummenigge.
“But I am a friend that all stakeholders are sitting at the table – the player union, the leagues, the associations.” Then “you can just try to find a solution – in difficult discussions – because it can’t go on”. Because Rummenigge continues: “Everyone in football only goes to the office every day on the hunt for money to satisfy consultants and players. That cannot be the future.”
When Infantino took the microphone on stage, he did not go into it yet. “First of all, very, very congratulations on Bayern. 125 years – you have to celebrate that! It is a huge honor to be here. At a club that has done a lot for German football, European football and world football,” said Infantino.