Bayern Munich’s Stadium

October 15^th, 2023

From the Olympic Tower yesterday, I could see the Allianz Stadium off in the distance on the north end of Munich.  It is home to the FC Bayern Munich, one of the premier teams in the top soccer (well, really football) teams in the Bundesliga, Germany’s top league.  I’m not the biggest soccer fan but while I was stuck in India, I met a British fellow who educated me about the nuances of the Premier League…who used to play for who, why this manager was good, etc.  And in India, the 3 pm English time games on Saturdays were at 8:30 in the evening in Goa, which was perfect for watching in sports bars while having dinner.  Now, I have to admit that I’ve never really watch the Bundesliga, but I had definitely hear of FC Bayern Munich as they are quite a successful team and are usually in the Champions League, the league that features the top teams from the top leagues in Europe.

 

I decided to buy a ticket for a stadium tour, and I’m glad that I did.  The stadium seats 70,000 people and is the second largest venue in Germany.  The outside is cladded with 2874 foil air panels which stay inflated by a differential air pressure.  Each panel can be independently lit to show either the red for the FC Bayern team or maybe white for the German National team and the stadium can be seen up to 80 kilometres away on a clear night.  The place also boasts the biggest underground car park with 9800 parking spaces.

Before the tour my ticket included access to the FC Bayern museum.  I could have shown up 3 hours before the tour but I was quite sure that I wouldn’t need that much time.  In fact, it was a bit of a comedy of errors to get there.  I walked from my hostel to the nearby Ostbahnhof train station and went to a bakery in the complex to get a chocolate croissant as I had 4-5 minutes to spare.  Well the lady serving helped the guy in front of me, but then helped a few other customers who were congregated in front of the counter.  I wasn’t sure if I was invisible or what.  Of course some older lady ordered a bunch of things and by the time the croissant was in my hands and I was up on the platform, the S8 train I wanted had gone.  Numerous trains ran the same 4-5 stops to Marienplatz so I quickly tried to figure out what my other options were.  I thought I found my solution, ran over to that platform only to watch that train pull away.  It happened a third time.  I resigned myself to catching the next S8 train.

I arrived at the stadium about 45 minutes before my tour.  It was a bit of a jaunt from the train station to the stadium, close to a kilometre.  I was amazed by the size of a wind turbine near the building…I’d never seen one so big!

Approaching the stadium:

A massive wind turbine nearby, I've never seen such a big one:

Turns out the amount of time I had in the museum was just right…I couldn’t imagine spending a few hours in there, but then again, I’m not a die hard Munich fan.  It was impressive how much hardware (trophies) was on display.

Some nice old TVs:

2029/2020 Season when Bayern won all 6 trophies in different leagues and competitions...they won everything that they could!

Their Bundesliga trophies:

Me and Harry Kane:

One of the biggest trophies I've ever seen...it is over 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide!

There were about 30 others in the English tour I was on and our guide was a local guy Patrick, with slightly darker skin and a pretty good afro.  We walked 3-4 minutes through the concessions area to the far end of the stadium.  I couldn’t help but think of the narrow walkway back at the Olympic stadium from the day before.  In comparison, this was like a highway.  We ventured out to the upper part of the lower stands.  The stadium was impressive on the inside.  The roof was not completely closed in but it would protect most of the fans if it rained.  At the far end, the colours of the seats were arranged to form an impressively large representation of the FC Bayern Munich logo.

Walking through the concessions area:

It's a blurry photo as I was trying to take this surreptiously, but I loved this Scandinavian family with all four of them in leather jackets!

Patrick giving us some details about the stadium:

Subsequently we headed down to the seats behind the home and away team benches, followed by entering the bowels of the arena.  First up was the media room, where the managers must deal with the press before and after the game.

Where the press sits:

The hot seats:

We visited the home team’s dressing room and I have to admit that I was a little underwhelmed.  Granted the stadium was built in 2005 but I just thought there would be a bit more pizazz in the room.  Still cool to see.

The physio room:

Next, we walked out onto the pitch.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t take the exact tunnel that the players do, but we still got to stand there and listen to the Champions League anthem which pumps up the players before the game. We were able to sit down in the fancy seats that the players use.  Patrick explained that these were the fanciest seats in the whole arena, even better than the corporate boxes.  Since Audi is one of the major sponsors, they were seats made by them for their high end cars…not bad.

Walking out onto the pitch:

On the home bench...sitting in the most comfortable seats in the house:

The crazy outside wall of the stadium:

The super nice subway train in Munich:

Back in Munich, I wandered over to the Hofbrauhaus, Munich’s famous beer tavern.  It’s a place that feels like Octoberfest every day of the year.  I recall going there on a Sunday in March when I was backpacking in 1995 and I remember it being off the wall.  It was a Sunday again, around 5 pm and the place was packed.  Being by myself, and it was hot, humid and loud in the place, I decided not to stay…and unfortunately, I was only able to get a short video of it before my phone battery died.