Bayern are FIFA Club World Cup champions
Bavarian outfit have six French players in their ranks
We take a closer look at the club’s enduring French connection
Bayern Munich’s love affair with French players dates back to the mid-90s with the arrival of Jean-Pierre Papin. Nascent Franco-Bavarian ties were further strengthened during the 2000s, when Bixente Lizarazu, Willy Sagnol and Franck Ribery all followed in his footsteps.
Today, the relationship is at its zenith with no fewer than six Frenchmen plying their trade for the European champions.
On 11 February, the club’s Gallic flair was again in evidence in the final of the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020™. The UEFA Champions League winners saw off the challenge of Mexico’s Tigres UNAL with a goal from Benjamin Pavard, just one of five Franzosens on the Bavarians' team sheet. Bayern appear to be in seventh heaven with their Bleus, as these stats can attest.
Bayern, like all German clubs, love the French. The club comes to recruit youngsters because they’re complete players, particularly in terms of tactical awareness, reading of the game, and individual technique. The French sometimes take time to adap...
For a long time, the club knew how to integrate South American players but not other nationalities. But nowadays, everyone thinks that the French are reliable. Lizarazu and Sagnol were the ones who started the love affair. If a player as emotional as...