Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, German pronunciation: [ˈfuːsbalˌklʊp ˈbaɪɐn ˈmʏnçn̩]), commonly known as Bayern Munich (German: Bayern München), FC Bayern (pronounced [ˌɛft͡seː ˈbaɪɐn] ) or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, who play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. Bayern are the most successful club in German football and are among the world's most decorated, having won a record 34 national titles, including eleven consecutive titles from 2013 to 2023 and a record 20 national cups, alongside numerous European titles.
Bayern Munich was founded in 1900 by eleven players, led by Franz John. Although Bayern won its first national championship in 1932, the club was not selected for the Bundesliga during its inception in 1963. The club found success in the mid-1970s when, under the captaincy of Franz Beckenbauer, they won the European Cup three consecutive times (1974–1976). Overall, Bayern have won six European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles (a German record), winning their sixth title in the 2020 final as part of the Treble, and it became the second European club to achieve this feat twice. Bayern has also won one UEFA Cup, one European Cup Winners' Cup, two UEFA Super Cups, two FIFA Club World Cups and two Intercontinental Cups, making it one of the most successful European clubs internationally, and the only German club to have won both international titles. Bayern players have accumulated five Ballon d'Or awards, two The Best FIFA Men's Player awards, five European Golden Shoe and three UEFA Men's Player of the Year awards, including UEFA Club Footballer of the Year.
By winning the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup, Bayern Munich became only the second club to win the \"sextuple\" (winning the League, Cup, and Champions League in one season followed by the Domestic Supercup, UEFA Supercup and Club World Cup in the next season), or all trophies that a club can win in a calendar year. Bayern Munich is one of five clubs to have won all three of UEFA's main club competitions and the only German club to achieve that. As of November 2024, Bayern Munich are ranked third in UEFA club rankings. The club has traditional local rivalries with 1860 Munich and 1. FC Nürnberg.
Bayern Munich is one of the most widely supported football clubs in the world, and in April 2025, Bayern had more than 400,000 official club members and 4,147 officially registered fan clubs, with over 322,000 members, making the club the largest sports club in the world by membership. The club has other departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis and senior football, with more than 1,100 active members. Since the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Bayern has played its home games at the Allianz Arena. Previously, the team had played at Munich's Olympiastadion for 33 years. The team colours are red and white, and the crest shows the white and blue flag of Bavaria. Bayern Munich has the largest revenue out of any German sports club and the fifth highest-earning football club in the world, earning €764.5 million in 2025.
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