A Period of Reconstruction

After this catastrophic period in history, German football needed its own period of recovery. It would be nine years before real euphoria broke out again, when the German national team returned triumphant from the World Cup in Switzerland.

Sepp Herberger's team had won Germany's first World Cup title, but the 3-2 victory over Hungary was a bitter experience for Jakob Streitle, the Bayern captain. The international who had made 15 appearances for his country had to sit out the final and watch Fritz Walter and the German team win without him.

But it would be a while before a German team without Bayern players became a rare sight, even though the Reds won the 1957 DFB (German Football Federation) Cup. In a sell-out match in front of 42,000 spectators at Augsburg's Rosenau Stadium, Bayern captain, Jobst led the team to a 1-0 victory over Fortuna Düsseldorf. But this was followed by a short period without victories. Managed from 1962 by construction magnate, Wilhelm Neudecker, Bayern faced disappointment in 1963, when they were not allowed to play in the newly established Bundesliga.

But two years later FC Bayern stormed the so-called upper house of German football, coached by Tschik Cajkovski, who died in 1998. The club then entered an extraordinary period of development, which saw the emergence of Franz Beckenbauer and other great names in Bayern's history.

Beckenbauer had joined the Reds instead of the Blues (Munich 1860) after an argument, and Cajkovski now played him in the promotion play-offs. Behind him, in goal, stood a certain Sepp Maier. In front of him, on the opposite side of the pitch, a stocky young man called Gerd Müller (whom Cajkovski would later affectionately dub 'the little fat müller') played the ball with consummate reliability.

It was this axis that first brought Bayern world fame. They finished third in their first Bundesliga year in 1965/6. Beckenbauer and Maier were rewarded with a place in the national squad that flew to Britain, where Germany's World Cup efforts only ended when they lost to the hosts, England, in the final. But Bayern's football year didn't go by without a title. They had won their second Cup victory, a 4-2 win over Meidericher SV, before the World Cup tournament. In front of60,000 spectators in Frankfurt, Ohlhauser, Beckenbauer and Brenninger (2) scored the goals.

1967 saw the Bavarians conquer their first European summit. Immediately after winning the Cup 4-0 over Hamburg SV, Beckenbauer's team achieved a kind of double. Franz 'Bull' Roth, the player who regularly scored the vital goals and earned the name 'Mr. European Cup', scored in the 109th minute to bring Bayern a 1-0 victory against Glasgow Rangers. The European Cup Winners' Cup belonged to the Bavarians. The dream had come true in Nuremberg.