Investigations on the campus of the record champions: When it comes to training talents to become stars, not everything is exemplary at FC Bayern, as elsewhere.
Photo: imago images / Sven Simon
The floodlights are on at dusk: while a youth team from FC Bayern has just finished their session on one of the eight football pitches, a single player is practicing on another field in the approximately 30-hectare facility, under the guidance of two coaches. It’s late afternoon – and the scenery on the campus of the Munich World Club is almost idyllic, here on the edge of the Südliche Fröttmaninger Heide nature reserve.
Two and a half kilometers as the crow flies from FC Bayern’s youth academy (NLZ), the Munich Arena, with its 75,000 spectator seats, is clearly visible on the northern outskirts of the city. Between the stadium, which opened in 2005 and was built at a cost of 340 million euros, and the campus, which was completed in 2017 at a cost of 70 million euros, the most important population of green toads lives in a nutrient-poor grassland landscape in Bavaria. The endangered blue Idas moth has also found its distribution center in the Free State here in the city area. Many FC Bayern fans, on the other hand, tend to come from those rural areas in the near or far vicinity where the world is supposedly still fine. But an idyll is often deceptive.
The extent to which this also applies to the FC Bayern campus has been the subject of investigations for some time. Once again, after a racism scandal in the Munich NLZ had already caused a stir in the summer of 2020. At that time, it was mainly about the criminal offense of hate speech in chat groups. A youth coach from FC Bayern was at the center of the scandal. The club separated from him and other employees – and of course condemned the incidents. For almost a year, the club has been dealing with the next sensitive issue. It is about alleged violations of the minimum wage law on campus. In the meantime, FC Bayern, worth millions, should no longer employ coaches on a 450-euro mini-job basis, possibly also because of previous media reports on the subject. Before that, however, the club’s youth coaches are said to have not been paid appropriately, but have been fobbed off with dumping wages despite extensive working and support hours. The main customs office in Munich was commissioned by the Munich I public prosecutor to carry out investigations.
Shortly before the end of 2021, it became known that current and former board members of FC Bayern München AG were being investigated: Oliver Kahn (Chairman), Hasan Salihamidzic (Sport), Jan-Christian Dreesen (Finance) and Andreas Jung (Marketing), too against Kahn’s predecessor Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who retired in the summer of 2021, and former board member Jörg Wacker. They are all considered suspects.
The WDR magazine “Sport inside” first reported on this, quoting from a customs record, according to which there was a suspicion of “withholding and embezzlement of wages” and the alleged “incorrect keeping of hourly records, non-granting of the minimum wage «. Specifically, youth coaches described that they were asked to only write down the net playing time as working hours at tournaments, for example, but not the other travel and support times. Oliver Kahn said of the incidents at the end of December: “Of course we are fully cooperating with the authorities in this matter. It is in our interest that these events are fully clarified.« Since then it has been quiet. Apart from the fact that Salihamidzic praised the “excellent work” on campus on Monday in the course of the contract extension with the 16-year-old talent Paul Wanner.
If you ask the former youth coaches, their impressions do not match Kahn’s promises. Rather, FC Bayern does not act cooperatively and denies the allegations, it is said. Some youth coaches had sued the club after they had been fired. The notices were given on the grounds that the coaches had betrayed trade secrets to the media, allegedly also in the course of the racism scandal. An initial decision by the labor court on the question of whether a junior coach has been lawfully terminated is scheduled for next Tuesday. Irrespective of this, several former youth coaches are concerned with paying the presumably overdue minimum wage. This can be claimed retrospectively for up to three years. They are striving for a settlement, but at the last hearing before the labor court, the association said the offer was much too low.
Meanwhile, in the background, the main customs office is interviewing witnesses that are intended to provide information on the extent to which the allegations of wage dumping are true. One insider says that the authorities are likely to find “a violation of the minimum wage law in quite a few cases.” If it were really so, it would result in the criminal offense of social security fraud. It is said that in Munich alone there are around 20 youth coaches affected. The Munich I public prosecutor and the responsible main customs office do not want to comment at the moment. This is also due to the fact that this would not be permitted during ongoing investigations into suspected criminal tax matters. In addition, investigators are talking about a “big deal” because it’s about FC Bayern.
The German industry leader is only the most prominent club that is being investigated. FC Augsburg and at least one other Bundesliga and second division team are also affected. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Finance to a question from Bundestag member Victor Perli (Die Linke). The politician recently said to “Sport inside” about the apparently widespread wage dumping: “That’s cynical. These are clubs that pay their players and officials millions. And for those in the second row, who train the youngsters and are jointly responsible for future success, isn’t there even a minimum wage?” The German Football Association and the German Football League are required to give the clubs clear guidelines.
In the case of FC Augsburg, it has been determined for a long time. On August 3, 2021, 61 employees of the financial control for undeclared work of the main customs office in Augsburg raided a total of three properties, and three public prosecutors were also on duty. Numerous documents were confiscated. »At the moment, the evaluation of the documents seized is still ongoing, the procedure is ongoing. A prognosis as to when the proceedings can be expected to be completed cannot be given,” said the Augsburg public prosecutor on request. It is possible that at least the evaluation of the documents can be completed in the first quarter, further steps could follow. How things are going at FC Augsburg should also be of interest to FC Bayern and the other clubs that are being investigated.
