“With the departure of Lewandowski we all came out winning”

The president of Bayern Munich attended SPORT exclusively from the Allianz Arena

“Barça is coming back, it’s a very big club and it will set the tone again”, he assures

The Allianz Arena is an imposing stadium located twenty minutes from the center of Munich. Its modern and functional facilities welcome 75,000 Bayern fans almost every game. It will not be an exception tomorrow, Tuesday, to experience the European classic between the Bavarians and Barça. The president of the German entity, Herbert Hainer, attends SPORT in the bowels of the stadium to talk about everything: Lewandowski, Barça’s moment, the Super League and how Bayern manages to stay at the sporting and economic top year after year.

Forgive my ignorance. How is Bayern organized?

Well, we have excluded the professional soccer team from the normal activity of the club. This allows Bayern to focus on football. We have also sold 25% of our shares to three external partners: Adidas, Audi and Allianz. 75% of the shares remain in the possession of the club. When the idea to build the Allianz Arena was born, Uli Hoeneß and Rummenigge, who were in charge of the club, needed money and sold 25% of the shares to these companies, which are also sponsors. This is how we work and we are very happy, especially because we are not only successful in sports, but we are also in a very good financial position.

Aren’t you afraid that Bayern could be owned by a Chinese, Arab or Russian businessman?

No, because our statutes clearly state that at FC Bayern up to 70% of the club must remain with it. If the owner has 100% of the shares, he will always decide what to do. If you have an owner, he decides about good and evil.

Can this model be transferred to Barça?

I don’t want to talk about other clubs because I don’t know the circumstances, but you have to know that in Germany we have the 50+1 rule, which says that the club is obliged to retain this percentage of the shares.

Should the president of a club like football or is it preferable to be a good manager?

I think the president has to have a passion for football. We work for the fans, for our 290,000 members or supporters who come to the stadium every day. Today there will be 75,000 people in the stadium (at Bayern-Stuttgart) and we do it for them. If the president doesn’t have a passion for football, I don’t think it will work. Of course, you have to know how to lead, but the passion for football cannot be lacking.

Like Laporta?

That’s how it is. On Tuesday we will meet again for lunch. I have known him for 20 years.

Yes? Have they kept in touch?

Yes, we have met at different matches, at the UEFA and FIFA congresses, because I attended all these congresses as CEO of Adidas, and we met several times. We like each other, I know.

As CEO of Adidas, he must have negotiated with Florentino Pérez.

Yes, he is a very strong negotiator.

Speaking of Laporta and Florentino, what do you think of the Super League?

In everything you do, you always have to put the interests of the fans at the center, and the reaction of the fans said it all. I have to say that I like the UEFA Champions League because it is a fantastic competition where the best clubs compete. If you look at the quarter-finals or the round of 16, the most prestigious clubs play each other anyway. There are always Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern, City, Liverpool, etc.

Well, Barça lately…

Barca are coming back, they have a great team even now, and it’s such a big club!

As a person outside the day-to-day running of the club, but being a football man, can you understand how so much money can be spent when there are so many financial problems?

I don’t want to comment anything about it because I don’t know the financial situation well.

Barca and Lewandowski

Let’s talk about football, what do you expect from Tuesday’s game and how do you think Lewandowski will be received at the Allianz Arena?

I hope, and that is my great wish, that people are nice to Robert and that he has a friendly welcome, because he played eight years with us, scored a lot of goals and decided a lot of games. And we won all the big titles. And in the end, everyone got what they wanted: Robert was able to go to Barcelona, ​​Barcelona are happy to have Lewandowski and we have money to invest in our future. Everyone should feel comfortable and I hope that our fans will welcome him.

But it’s normal for people to be upset.

That is already a thing of the past.

Was it like his wife left him?

Everything is fine between Robert and FC Bayern, we have talked and everything is fine. We are looking forward.

In addition to the derby between Barça and Real Madrid, Bayern-Barça is one of the great European classics. What do the people from Munich think about Barça?

We have great respect for Barça. I personally believe that Spanish football is a model to follow: the national team wins, Madrid wins, Barça wins. We have also benefited from it, we have had Pep Guardiola as coach. Barça has had wonderful players: Xavi, Iniesta, Piqué, Busquets, Messi… and the club is so big that it will continue to set standards in the future.

There is talk of Guardiola, but there was also Van Gaal, as well as players like Thiago Alcántara… Do Bayern and Barça have more things in common than differences?

Exactly. Barça is a great club that belongs to the members, we are a great club that belongs to the majority of the members. We also compete in basketball, we like Barça’s way of playing with their technical football, we liked Barça’s way of winning Guardiola and also the way of winning when he came here, we have a good relationship with the club’s management and we appreciate it very much. your kind of players. We have much in common.

history won’t repeat itself

But now they are going through different times. Barça is under construction. Do you think that what happened in Lisbon or last season could be repeated?

I don’t think it will repeat itself. Back then, in 2020, we caught Barcelona at a good moment, and then we were in captivating form, everything was going very well for us. But Barça is much stronger this year than two years ago, Laporta is the right president to return Barça to where it should be, and I expect an even game. Of course I expect a win, but I expect a very close match.

Which teams do you see as favorites to win the Champions League this season?

You always have to count on Madrid and then on the usual suspects: Manchester City, Liverpool, PSG… and Bayern. In addition, Barça has once again formed a very interesting team: you always have to keep an eye on Barça.