120 years of tradition, passion and success! Happy birthday to Bayern! 🎂

On 27th February 1900, a football club was founded in Munich. After 120 years, Bayern have become one of the most successful clubs across the world.

On this day in 1900, members of a Munich gymnast club broke away to form a football team, one that would become among the biggest in the world.

Today, as the club celebrates its 120-year anniversary, we take a look at its rich history.

Although Bayern won its first national championship in 1932, the club was not selected for the Bundesliga at its inception in 1963.

The club had its period of greatest success in the middle of the 1970s when, under the captaincy of Franz Beckenbauer, it won the European Cup three consecutive times (1974–1976). 

Overall, Bayern has reached ten European Cup/UEFA Champions League finals, most recently winning their fifth title in 2013 as part of a continental treble. Bayern has also won one UEFA Cup, one European Cup Winners' Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, one FIFA Club World Cup 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. 

Since the formation of the Bundesliga, Bayern has been the dominant club in German football, winning 29 titles, including seven consecutively since 2013. They have traditional local rivalries with 1860 Munich and 1. FC Nürnberg, as well as with Borussia Dortmund since the mid-1990s.

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 team crest shows the white and blue flag of Bavaria.

In terms of revenue, Bayern Munich is the biggest sports club in Germany and the fourth highest-earning football club in the world, generating €629.2 million in 2019.

For the 2018–19 season, Bayern reported revenue of €750.4 million and an operating profit of €146.1 million. This was Bayern's 27th consecutive year with a profit. In November 2019, Bayern had 293,000 official members and there are 4,499 officially-registered fan clubs with over 358,151 members.

The club has other departments for chess, handball, basketball, gymnastics, bowling, table tennis and senior football with more than 1,100 active members. At the end of the 2018–19 season, Bayern was ranked third in the UEFA club coefficient rankings.

Bayern Honours

German Champions - 29 times

DFB-Pokal - 19 times

DFB/DFL-Supercup - 7 times

DFL-Ligapokal - 6 times

UEFA Champions League / European Cup - 5 times

UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup - 1 time in 1996-96

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup - 1 time in 1966-67

UEFA Super Cup - 1 time in 2013

Intercontinental Cup - 2 times in 1976 & 20011

FIFA Club World Cup - 1 time in 2013

Happy birthday, Bayern Munich!