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[1] including six European Cup/Champions League titles[3][4][5] and are ranked joint third among all clubs across the continent in this regard.

[8] Bayern were not one of the major teams in West Germany in the years following the end of World War II and the partition of the nation, and had been treated unfavourably by the Nazi regime due to the Jewish origins of their founders prior to 1945.

[10][11] Bayern were fortunate in that the match was played in Bavaria, with the contest in Nuremberg (Franconia) being almost a home tie, and also benefitted from their opponents' chaotic preparations: Rangers had eliminated the holders and fellow Germans Borussia Dortmund in an earlier round,[12] but had since dispensed with the services of two prolific forwards who took the blame for a shock defeat in the Scottish Cup in January 1967, instead relying on a converted defender who did not have the quality required to overcome the Bayern resistance.

[10][13] They were eliminated from the 1969–70 European Cup at the first hurdle as French team Saint-Etienne overturned a 2–0 deficit from Germany to win 3–0 at their own stadium, contributing to the departure of head coach Branko Zebec (who was later acknowledged as having laid many of the foundations of what was to follow)[15] - but also was said to be unstable due to a drinking problem.

[16] Ironically, it was Beckenbauer who blamed Lattek later on for "playing tennis with teammembers on the day of an important match which we lost consequently" (in the first of his "autobiographies", called "Einer wie ich"), and is thought to have masterminded the switch to Dietmar Cramer, his former coach at age 17 in the "Youth National Team".

[21] Secondly, the 1972 Summer Olympic Games were held in Munich, with Bayern moving into its main arena from the much smaller Grünwalder Stadion after the events were over, giving the club a stadium to match their ambitions of dominance.

[13][28][29] 48 hours later, Bayern produced a superior performance, Hoeneß and Müller each scoring twice, and the 4–0 result brought European football's biggest prize to Bavaria, and indeed to Germany, for the first time.

[33][34] With Dettmar Cramer[13][35] newly installed as head coach after parting company with Lattek in January 1975,[33] they progressed past two further opponents including Saint-Etienne to set up a meeting with Leeds United in the Paris final.

[36] Domestically, Gladbach won the title and Bayern finished only 10th; they were minus Breitner who had moved to Real Madrid, although their future star Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had joined the club and was an unused substitute in Paris.

[43][44][45] Bayern Munich were represented by four of the West Germany side in the UEFA Euro 1976 Final that summer in Belgrade, but the national squad were also slightly past their absolute best and lost on penalties to Czechoslovakia.

[50] The opposition in November and December 1976 was Brazil's Cruzeiro; Bayern secured a 2–0 first leg lead in a snowy Munich – inevitably Gerd Müller was a scorer, along with Jupp Kapellmann[35] – and held on for a goalless draw across the Atlantic Ocean a month later in front of a crowd of 117,000 at the Mineirão[35] to become the world champions (at the time that title was unofficial, but was retrospectively awarded as such by FIFA in 2017).

Domestically they dropped down to 7th, scraping into the UEFA Cup for the first time, but then were eliminated by fellow Bundesliga club Eintracht Frankfurt in the early rounds of that tournament; between the two legs of the tie (already all but lost with a heavy 4–0 deficit) Bayern engaged in an unusual 'trainer exchange' with the opposition, with Dettmar Cramer going west to Frankfurt am Main and Gyula Lóránt east to Munich,[53] but despite this change, they finished the 1977–78 season at home in a historic low placing of 12th, meaning there would be no European football at all in the next campaign.

Aided by the return of Paul Breitner, it took Bayern and coach Pál Csernai little more than a year to re-establish themselves as a force, finishing 4th in the 1978–79 Bundesliga to qualify for the 1979–80 UEFA Cup, where they reached the semi-finals, beating 1.

FC Kaiserslautern then losing to the eventual winners Frankfurt[54] – all the semi-finalists were from West Germany, a unique situation which in combination with the presence of Hamburger SV in the European Cup final demonstrated the quality of their league at that time.

[60] Bayern were unable to get past Villa's defence despite the Birmingham side having to substitute experienced goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer with rookie Nigel Spink in the opening minutes.

[70][71][62][16] The defeat of the Bayern team that was assembled relatively inexpensively from within Germany was said to have caused Uli Hoeneß to switch focus onto attracting international stars in an attempt to revive the club's fortunes.

After a record-equalling margin of loss (6–2) in the first leg of their defeat at the hands of Denmark's B 1903 in the 1991–92 UEFA Cup's early rounds,[78] the club did not qualify for Europe at all the following year, and in 1993 suffered elimination from the same competition by Norwich City, who became the first English team to win at the Olympiastadion.

Bayern's first experience of the new-style[60] UEFA Champions League in the 1994–95 season was ended in the semi-finals by eventual winners Ajax, coached by Louis van Gaal,[80] who did not lose a match in any competition that year.

That good fortune was capitalised upon, as new signing Jürgen Klinsmann became the competition's leading striker with a record haul of 15 goals[81] helping the club past rivals including FC Barcelona.

In the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, Bayern topped a tough group containing Alex Ferguson's Manchester United and a Barcelona team coached by van Gaal, eliminating the latter,[90] then easily defeated Kaiserslautern and narrowly overcame Dynamo Kyiv[90] to set up a rematch with Manchester United in the final at Camp Nou, the first time the occasion would feature two clubs who had not won their domestic league or the Champions Cup the previous season.

[93] While Bayern, had just sealed a third league title in a row, appeared cursed not to win the European Cup again – in contrast to the Bayern-luck which was perceived to benefit them in domestic competitions such as their two most recent league titles, won on the final day by the narrowest of margins[92] – their opponents at the San Siro showdown would be Valencia, the team beaten by Madrid in the 2000 final, therefore it was something of a 'battle of the losers' (the first time the previous two beaten finalists had met)[60] with one club to be redeemed and another to suffer a second misfortune in quick succession.

The match was a tense affair, ending 1–1 after extra time with both goals from penalty kicks (Bayern's from Stefan Effenberg in the second half after Scholl failed to score from one in the first period),[94] leading to a shootout in which Kahn saved three of Valencia's seven attempts for a 5–4 victory,[94][95] the end of a 25-year wait to lift the 'big ears cup' for a fourth time,[92] and a sense of both triumph and relief for the players and head coach Ottmar Hitzfeld who had been involved two years earlier (by contrast, for Hitzfeld's counterpart Héctor Cúper it was his third defeat in major European finals in as many years).

The 2006–07 season was a disappointment as Bayern again failed to make much impact in Europe (losing to Italian opposition in Milan)[107] and finished fourth at home, out of the Champions League places.

[92] Installed as favourites for the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, they overcame Aberdeen after waiting 25 years to meet the Scots again,[11][108][109] but lost to Zenit Saint Petersburg in the semi-finals;[92] the Russians defeated another Scottish team, Rangers, in the final.

[92] Louis van Gaal became Bayern head coach in summer 2009, spending large sums on forwards Mario Gómez and Arjen Robben,[110] adjusting Schweinsteiger's role and installing youngsters Holger Badstuber and Thomas Müller into the line-up,[110][14][111] while allowing players like Podolski and Lúcio to depart.

[110] In Europe, they eliminated Arsenal, Juventus and Barcelona by increasing margins (a 7–0 aggregate over the Catalans)[110] to reach a tenth Champions League final, to be staged at Wembley Stadium in London.

[110][119] The following week, Bayern defeated Stuttgart in the 2013 DFB-Pokal final to complete the treble[110] (or a quadruple including the DFL-Supercup), an unprecedented feat in German football and only achieved seven times previously in other leagues across Europe.

In the wake of Germany's World Cup victory, the next four campaigns all followed similar patterns to 2013–14 for Bayern Munich: with their attack led by Robert Lewandowski, triumph in the domestic League by a large margin (an ongoing record sequence of six titles in a row was claimed),[125] but defeated by Spanish opposition in the later stages of the Champions League (falling to winners Barcelona in 2015, to runners-up Atlético Madrid in 2016 – in the clubs' first meeting since the 1974 final[28] – and to winners Real Madrid in both 2017 and 2018).

That international failure was mirrored in the Champions League, with Bayern's 2018–19 involvement ending with a home defeat at the hands of Liverpool in the Round of 16, the earliest exit since 2010–11;[129] Dortmund and Schalke also suffered heavy losses to English opposition at the same stage.

Bayern equalised through Leon Goretzka and saw two goals disallowed by the Video assistant referee system in the second half with Manuel Neuer making a crucial save from Youssef En-Nesyri.