On March 1 against SC Freiburg, Bayern Munich reached the milestone of having played 2000 Bundesliga matches in their history. They are the first team in the history of the German top flight to have done so, thanks to their promotion to the league in 1965 and their uninterrupted Bundesliga status since then. Werder Bremen are the only other team to come close to that statistic, as they will play their 2000th league encounter on Matchday 32 of the current season. Last Word on Football brings you some Bayern Munich records as part of their journey to such a historic milestone.
2000 Bundesliga Matches – The Bayern Munich Records
The Biggest Win
The most lopsided victory for the Bavarians in top flight league football was somewhat surprisingly against their biggest rivals of recent decades, namely Borussia Dortmund. That 11-1 victory came on November 27, 1971, long before the Black and Yellows made a claim to being one of the top teams in the league. At halftime, the Bavarians were already up 4-0, yet they well and truly made it a rout in the second 45 minutes.
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Gerd Müller, the leading goal scorer in club history found the net almost disappointingly only four times that afternoon, considering that they scored 11. Uli Hoeneß scored twice along with Franz Roth, while Willi Hoffmann, Franz Beckenbauer, and Paul Breiter chipped in one goal each. Dieter Weinkauff scored for Dortmund to make it 6-1 near the hour mark of the game. The Bavarians won the Bundesliga title that season.
The Worst Defeat
The most lopsided defeat in 2000 Bayern Bundesliga matches was a 7-0 home loss to Schalke 04 on October 9, 1976. Schalke legend Klaus Fischer scored four of those goals for the Royal Blues. The other scorers were Erwin Kremers, Manfred Dubski ,and Rüdiger Abramczik with one goal each.
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It is noteworthy that at the time, the Bavarians were champions of Europe, having won continental silverware three years in a row from 1974-76. At the end of that season however, that continental streak ended and they also finished the Bundesliga term in an abysmal 7th place.
Bayern’s “Favourite” Opponent
The team that Bayern have defeated more times than any other in the Bundesliga is their Southern Derby rival VfB Stuttgart. In 109 games in the German top flight, they have triumphed a full 69 times to date. One such encounter that stands out was on May 24, 1997, when they won 4-2 in a thrilling matchup that secured them their first league title since 1994. That triumph meant more given that Borussia Dortmund won the UEFA Champions League that year, while Schalke 04 triumphed in the UEFA Cup, the precursor competition to today’s Europa League, which was a testament to the strength of the Bundesliga then.
Bayern’s Bogey Team
The side that created the most problems for the German record champions in 2000 outings is Borussia Mönchengladbach. They defeated the Bavarians 28 times in 112 encounters. The Foals first gained promotion in the same year that Bayern did and they quickly became the two most dominant teams in West Germany. In the 1970s, the Golden Age of German football, Bayern and Monchengladbach decided the winner of the league between them for much of the decade. In fact, from 1970 to 1977, the bogey team won five Bundesliga titles, while the Bavarians won the other three in that period. The two rival clubs also made up a large portion of the successful West German national team at the time.
Personal Records
Thomas Müller won more Bundesliga titles than any other player in league history with 12. He also won the most matches as a Bayern player, 334 as of this writing (333 in the first 2000 Bayern Bundesliga matches). Sepp Maier is the player with the most Bundesliga losses for the team with 103. As far as coaches are concerned Udo Lattek was in charge for the most league matches, with 299 in total he won more than any other as well with 184 but also lost more than any other Bayern coach with 47.
2000 Bundesliga matches is an incredible milestone for a club with a history of many incredible milestones. Even though the 2000th match itself ended in a disappointing 2-2 draw, the side are arguably coming to the end of an amazing era of success.
