FC Bayern is increasingly feeling the financial dominance of the Premier League in the transfer market. While English clubs can invest billions in new players, the Munich club must find other ways. CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen has now explained how the German record champion still intends to compete with Europe’s wealthiest clubs in the long term.
The sheer scale of the English transfer market alone shows just how great the challenge has become. “The Premier League has spent over four billion on transfers,” Dreesen explained on SPORT1’s “Doppelpass.”
In the CEO’s view, it is neither possible nor necessary for Bayern to get caught up in this financial arms race. “Those are incredible figures—we won’t be able to reach them, nor do we need to,” the Bayern boss emphasized.
Instead, the record champion is taking a different approach: “Our response to this is: First, don’t complain, and second, be creative and actually make the most of our opportunities.”
Revenue streams that Bayern can influence more directly play a crucial role in this. “We have a revenue mix that we’ve refined over the years,” explained Dreesen. This includes, in particular, sponsorship, marketing, and merchandising.
Bayern sells more jerseys than its Bundesliga rivals
Dreesen sees merchandising, in particular, as an exceptional strength of FC Bayern. “We sell more jerseys than the rest of the Bundesliga combined,” the CEO explained.
For Dreesen, this figure is above all a reflection of the record champion’s enormous fan base. “That’s a huge number, and it has nothing to do with the economic power of Bavaria’s residents—it has to do with the fans and their conviction that they want to wear their club’s jersey.”
In addition to generating extra revenue, the club’s own youth development program is also intended to ensure that Bayern becomes less dependent on expensive signings in the transfer market.
Dreesen therefore pointed to the “much more intensive work at the campus.” In recent years, several young players—including Jamal Musiala, Aleksandar Pavlovic, and Lennart Karl—have made it to the first team. “We’ve been able to develop a few players in the recent past and have a really good track record when it comes to developing professional players,” explained Dreesen.
However, these talents do not necessarily all have to play for the record champion’s first team in the long term. Training professionals who are subsequently sold is also part of the business model.
“Not all players will end up here, but we develop professional players whom we can then sell, which in turn generates transfer revenue for us.”
“We don’t want to afford everyone”
Perhaps the most important aspect of Dreesen’s strategy, however, is cost discipline. Bayern continues to have enormous financial resources, but intends to use them strategically. “We can’t afford to make too many mistakes or spend too much money in areas where we’d be better off not doing so,” the Bayern boss made clear.
Dreesen then summed up Munich’s transfer philosophy with a remarkable statement: “We can buy any player we want, but we don’t want to afford everyone.”
This clearly outlines Bayern’s response to the Premier League’s billions. The record champions do not intend to try to outbid the top English clubs financially on every transfer. Instead, higher revenue from their own operations, a stronger youth development program, additional transfer income, and disciplined management of their existing funds are intended to ensure that Bayern remains among Europe’s elite in the long term.