Bayern Munich Champions League History

FC Bayern Munich is a football club based in the city of Munich in Bavaria, Germany. Founded in 1900, they have been competing in UEFA competitions since the 1960s and have become one of the most successful teams in Europe, winning eight major continental trophies including six European Cup/Champions League titles, and are ranked joint third, with Liverpool, among all clubs across the continent in this regard.

Bayern is by far Germany's most successful international representative: no other teams from that nation have won Europe's premier competition more than once (Hamburg, Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, Mönchengladbach, and Leverkusen).

Bayern Munich has experienced 11 finals in the most lucrative competition in club football, so far. Six times they found themselves victorious and in five of those finals they were defeated.

Bayern Munich have won the competition 3 consecutive times under the name of the European Cup from 1974 to 1976. They were the third team, after Real Madrid and Ajax to accomplish such a record.

They went through a 25-year drought after that until 2001 when they won their 4th title 2001, under the current name of the competition, UEFA Champions League. Their next two titles came in 2013 and 2020.

They have played a total number of 372 times in the span of 38 campaigns under the names of UEFA Champions League or European Cup. And having won 221 of those matches, they have a %59.41 winning rate, while losing 76 times and drawing 75 times.

They have scored 782 goals and conceded 367 goals during this time. Robert Lewandowski, Bayern’s current number 9 is their best goal scorer in the competition with 64 goals. He is also third, behind

and

in all-time scorers in UCL.

Bayern Munich Champions League History:

Bayern Munich have long been one of Europe's elite clubs, consistently dominating in their own country as well as being one of the major clubs on the continental scene.

Their last win in the Champions League came in 2020, when they edged out Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the final, behind closed doors, as they capped off a brilliant treble-winning campaign.

Road to the 1st title:

Before discussing about the

Bayern Munich Champions League history

, it should be mentioned that

debuted appearance in European Cup was in 1969, where they got eliminated by the French side, Saint-Etienne, after losing two 2-3 on aggregate. They were absent in the next two campaigns of competition in 70-71 and 71-72.

But they came back for the 72-73 European Cup and this time, saw themselves going past the first round after demolishing Galatasaray 6-0 at home in the first round and Omonia Nicosia 13-0 on aggregate in the second round.

They saw themselves in the quarter-finals against the pride of Dutch at that time,

. After a 4-0 defeat in the first leg, their 2-1 win in the second leg could not help Bayern from elimination.

As the saying goes, however, the third time is the charm. Bayern Munich bounced back next year with full strength. They started the new campaign with a 3-1 home win against the Swedish side, Åtvidaberg, but lost the next game with the exact scores so the game went to penalties.

Lucky for Bayern, they were able to survive with a 4-3 win in the penalty shoot-out. In the second leg, they faced the East German side, Dynamo Dresden. During two eventful matches, Bayern was able to snatch a win after finishing two games 7-6 on aggregate.

In the quarter-finals, they had to face the Bulgarian representative, CSKA Sofia. Although Bayern lost 1-2 in the away match, their 4-1 win in Germany reserved them a spot in the Semi-finals for the first time in their history. This time they had to face Hungary's side, Újpest Dózsa.

Although the first game was a hard and fair fight between the two teams that ended with a 1-1 draw, in the second leg, Bayern was able to finish the job with a 3-0 victory and secure their spot in the finals. Atletico Madrid who had beaten Celtic was the other finalist.

On May 15, 1974, the two teams faced each other in Brussels and after 120 minutes game of football, neither was able to score the winner as the game ended with a 1-1 draw. By those times rules, they needed to play a rematch only two days after to decide the winner.

So, the stage was set on the 17th in Belgium once again to host the 1974 European Cup Final. This time around, Bayern was dominant and they defeated their Spanish rivals 4-0. Two goals from Uli Hoeneß and two goals from Gerd Muller secured Bayern’s first-ever European Cup title in their third appearance.

The bomber, Gerd Muller, was named the top goal scorer of the competition, having scored 8 goals, including two in the final.

Road to the 2nd title:

In this part of the

Bayern Munich Champions League history

, we mention the club’s second title winning. Due to their Championship in 1974, Bayern Munich was given the privilege to skip the first round of the competition in the 1974-75 season and start the competition from the second round, where they had to face another German team, Magdeburg.

Bayern was able to win the round 5-3 on aggregate with the help of their legendary striker, and last season's top goal scorer,

who scored 4 out of 5 goals in two matches.

Their next opponent was one of the most powerful teams at the time in what was then named The Soviet Union, Ararat Yerevan. A team that is originally from today’s Armenia.

Ararat had won their two last games in the competition with 6-2 and 7-1 scores on aggregate. Nevertheless, Bayern was able to hold them at 2-1 on aggregate and secure their spot in the semi-finals.

Saint-Étienne, the first team that knocked Bayern out of the competition in 1969 was their opponent, again. Bayern fans looked forward to revenge their previous losses to the French team.

The first leg game was in France in front of 35 thousand fans and Bayern, despite facing a lot of pressure, was able to draw the game 0-0. On the second leg, however, 73 thousand German fans were ready to turn Olympiastadion in Munich into a boiling pot for their French guest.

A plan that worked perfectly fine as Bayern scored the first goal only 2 minutes after the kick-off. The goal seemed to disrupt Saint-Étienne’s plans and although they tried their best to tie the game, Dürnberger’s goal in the 70th minute of the game for Bayern blew the French hopes into thin air. Bayern went on to the finals for the second consecutive year.

The other finalist that year was Leeds United from England who came victorious against Barcelona in the Semi-finals with a 3-2 win on aggregate. Leeds best player at the time, was Billy Bremner, a midfielder that combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stamina.

On the other side, Bayern had two of the best players in the history of German football, Gerd Muller and

. All three players were included in that year’s team of the tournament.

Bayern Munich went into the match as favorites. Watched by a crowd of 48,374, Leeds had the best of the opening exchanges of the match and had two appeals for a penalty kick turned down by the referee Michel Kitabdjian.

Bayern suffered two injuries in the first half, to defender Björn Andersson and striker Uli Hoeneß, following strong tackles by Leeds players. A Peter Lorimer goal for Leeds in the 62nd minute was disallowed when Billy Bremner was adjudged to be offside.

Franz Roth scored in the 71st minute for Bayern and Gerd Müller extended the lead ten minutes later, to secure a 2–0 victory for Bayern and celebrate their back-to-back championships in Europe.

Once again, Gerd Muller was named the top scorer of the competition, although this time joined by Eduard Markarov from Ararat Yerevan, with 5 goals.

Road to the 3rd title:

The 1975–76 season of the European Cup football club tournament started on September 17, 1975, with 32 teams. The final was to be played at Hampden Park, Glasgow. This was the first time since 1968 that the competition was playing with 32 teams, again.

Unlike the 1974-75 season, Bayern did not skip the first round as current champions, and rather played against Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg. It was an easy first-round as Bayern managed to batter their opponent 8-1 on aggregate.

The second round, however, was not easy at all. Bayern faced Sweden champions Malmo FF in the second round and even lost the first leg 1-0 to them in Malmo as Andersson opened up the German champion’s net in the 27th minute.

Bayern had to prepare a response for the second leg, and respond they did. They won the game 2-0 with the help of Dürnberger and Torstensson’s goals in the 59th and 77th minutes, respectively, in front of their 47,000 fans in Olympiastadion.

In the quarter-finals, Bayern’s draw was to face Benfica of Portugal. The same scenario happened again, despite an even game in the first leg in Portugal, the game finished in a tie without any goals but in the second leg, Bayern Munich was totally dominant and smashed Benfica 5-1 in a one-way game.

Bayern’s toughest game of the campaign came in the semi-finals as they had to face the Kings of Europe, Real Madrid. A team that was then, a 6-time winner of the European Cup. The first leg match was played in Santiago Bernabeu in front of a record-breaking number of 111,000 fans.

Real opened the game very soon in the 7th minute, turning the heat up for German sides. But Bayern Munich’s experienced squad managed to concentrate properly and score just before half-time with help of their bomber, Muller.

The game finished with a tie and everything had to be settled in Germany. In the second leg, Bayern gave Real a taste of their own medicine, filling the stadium with its full capacity and scoring before the 10th minute.

Real Madrid, though, could not handle the situation as well as Bayern did in the first leg and conceded a second goal, scored once again by Gerd Muller, wrapping up the game and sending Bayern to their third consecutive final.

The third act of the trilogy was there, Bayern Munich vs. Saint-Étienne. Each of them had eliminated the other one before going through the next round but in 1976, the winner would’ve been crowned the champions of Europe.

The game began with Gerd Müller finding the back of the net after Bernd Dürnberger won the ball in his own half and went on a 50-meter solo run; however, Müller's effort was disallowed for offside by the Hungarian referee Károly Palotai.

Saint-Étienne had plenty of chances to score though, at the 34th minute Dominique Bathenay's shot hit the crossbar, with Bayern's keeper Sepp Maier beaten. By the start of the second half, Bayern Munich was more confident.

In the 57th minute, Gerd Müller was tackled by Osvaldo Piazza and the referee gave a free kick to the German team from 20 meters out, just left of the penalty arc. Franz Beckenbauer tipped the ball to Roth on his right who scored half high into the left side of the goal.

After this, Les Verts tried everything but could not find the back of the net. The final whistle was blown and Bayern Munich did the unthinkable, three consecutive European cup championships.

They felt to be on top of the world and could go on to beat any team from then on, too, but destiny had other plans for the German side in the European cup.

Road to the 4th title:

After winning their third title, Bayern went through a drought in case of European Cup competition. They even missed the competition for 4 years from 1977 to 1981.

The 1981-82 season was looking to be their year as they have, well-deservingly, reached the final after a wonderful campaign, scoring 20 goals and conceding only 6 goals in 4 matches.

In the final match, however, Bayern came up short against the English side,

as they snatched a 1-0 win in the 67th minute. It took Bayern 5 more seasons to reach another European Cup final.

In the 1986-87 season, they were able to beat Real Madrid again in the semi-finals and go to the final game where they had to play against Porto. Porto, at the time, was experiencing their first-ever final in the competition and Bayern Munich were the obvious favorites.

Their victory was easy in the eyes of their fans and the goal by Kögl in the 24th minute of the game for Bayern looked like it was an early celebration. But Porto won its first European trophy after fighting back from 1–0 down to win their first European Cup, with the goals coming from a backheel by Rabah Madjer and a volley from Juary, late in the game in the span of three minutes in the 79th and 81st.

The competition was rebranded as what we today know it in 1992, under the name of UEFA Champions League. Just like the European Cup, Bayern Munich made it to the final game in their third campaign. Bayern's debut season in UCL was in 1994, their second season was in the 1997-98 season and finally, in 1998-99, they made it to the final.

The 1999 UEFA Champions League Final was an association football match between Manchester United of England and Bayern Munich of Germany, played at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, on 26 May 1999.

Injury time goals from Manchester United's Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær canceled out Mario Basler's early goal for Bayern to give

a 2–1 win and left Bayern Munich in shock. This game is, to this date, one of the most final matches in the football world.

Next season, they got beaten again, this time in the semi-finals by Real Madrid, the eventual champions. But in the year 2000, Bayern bounced back again and after finishing both group stages as the group winner, made it to the quarter-finals.

There, they were able to revenge their previous loss in the final against Manchester United as they won the game 3-1 on an aggregate and another 3-1 on aggregate revengeful win against Real Madrid, which eliminated them last season. Finally, Bayern saw themselves in the final against

.

After a hard-fought match and 120 minutes of game time in San Siro stadium, it was the penalties that decided the winner as Bayern won 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out, for their first UEFA Champions League championship.

Road to the 5th title:

Bayern Munich Champions League results

after 2001 were not bad at all. They always managed to clinch the elimination round and get past the group stage, but they lacked enough clinical finishing in the last rounds of the competition.

In May 2010, nine years after their 4th title, they met another final stage, this time against Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan. Inter played a fantastic game and with the help of Diego Milito, who scored both goals of the match, won the treble that year, leaving Bayern empty-handed.

Only two years later, Bayern Munich, under the management of Jupp Heynckes, was playing in the Champions League final, again. This time against

.

The game was set to be played in Germany and Bayern Munich’s own stadium, Allianz Arena, so the fans were sure they would have to celebrate from dusk till dawn. Bayern took the lead late in the second half through Thomas Müller, but Didier Drogba equalized for Chelsea five minutes later to take the game to extra time, in which Arjen Robben missed an awarded penalty, Petr Čech saving the low drive.

The teams stayed level at 1–1 and the match went to a penalty shoot-out, in which Chelsea won 4–3 to clinch their first Champions League title.

Next season, 2012-13, Bayern was scary. They had lost the final on their home ground although being the better team, they wanted redemption and they wanted to build a

Bayern Munich champions league squad

, so they got to work and signed needed players to give the team enough depth and strength.

They absolutely battered the group stage with 13 points. Although in the round of 16, they were lucky enough to win the penalty shoot-outs against

.

But their best performance came in the quarter-finals and semis, where they played Juventus and Barcelona, and demolished them all together, winning Juventus 4-0 on aggregate and Barcelona 7-0 on aggregate, including a 3-0 win in Camp Nou.

The final took place on Saturday, 25 May 2013, at Wembley Stadium in London, England, between German Bundesliga clubs Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich.

In the first all-German Champions League final, Bayern won the match 2–1 with goals from Mario Mandžukić and man of the match, Arjen Robben coming either side of an İlkay Gündoğan penalty for Dortmund.

Arjen Robben’s goal came in as a clutch winner, in the 89th minute of the game and leaving Dortmund with no chance to turn things around. One week later, Bayern won the 2012–13 DFB-Pokal and, having already won the 2012–13 Bundesliga, completed the continental treble.

Road to the 6th title:

In this part of the

Bayern Munich Champions League history

, we mention the club’s last title winning. After their treble, Bayern appointed

, one of the best managers of this generation, as their head coach. Pep was a 2-time

Champions League winner

with Barcelona as a manager and was hoping to repeat the treasure hunt with Bayern, too.

Unfortunately for Bayern and Guardiola, they faced hard draws and despite playing beautiful football, they were maybe a little unlucky not to reach any finals in the next several years after their 5th title.

They did manage to reach the semi-final stage four times in the next 5 years but Spanish teams such as Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, and Real Madrid (twice) stopped Bayern’s journey there. In the 2018-19 season, they got knocked out by the eventual champions, Liverpool, too.

2019-20 season came and with it the wrath of German champions. Bayern finished the group stage with 18 points and won the group while winning all 6 group stage matches.

Their statistics were unreal to look at, 31 goals scored and only 6 conceded, averaging 5 goals per match. After that, they faced Chelsea and smashed them 7-1 on aggregate, as well.

With the break out of COVID-19, all European matches were suspended including UCL. But after 3 months, UEFA decided to continue the competition, with the exception that other quarter-final matches and semi-finals would be played in a single elimination-style match. Bayern Munich had to face Barcelona on neutral ground in Lisbon.

This game was a game to remember for ages as Bayern Munich decided to end a few of Barcelona players' careers as Barca players while they got humiliated in front of billions of TV viewers.

Bayern Munich won the game 8-2 in 90 minutes, Barcelona’s worst defeat in more than 30 years. Bayern had an easy match against Lyon in the semis and with a 3-0 win, reserved their spot in the final.

Hansi Flick, Bayern Munich's head coach’s attacking style of play was praised between football fans and critics all over the world. Their opponents, however, were nothing short of a strong finalist.

Paris Saint-Germain had managed to play their first Champions League final after the arrival of Qatar owners. Bayern Munich won the final 1–0 thanks to a 59th-minute goal scored by former Paris Saint-Germain player

, who was later selected as man of the match.

The match, unlike the score, was an absolute joy to watch as both teams were encouraged by their managers to attack and play forward.

Bayern secured their sixth European Cup title and second continental treble, becoming the second European men's football team to win the continental treble twice. Bayern also became the first team to claim any European competition with a 100% winning record.

After that, we have seen two more campaigns from Bayern in the Champions league in 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons where we found Bayern eliminated both times in the quarter-final stage. First by their previous finalist opponents, PSG, and most recently this season, surprisingly, by the Spanish club of Villarreal.

Nevertheless, Bayern Munich will always be a threat to any team in Europe as they are one of the most decorated clubs in the world, the pride of German football, and a menace in their home ground of Allianz Arena.

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