FC Bayern Munich - Charity

Charity

Bayern has been known to be involved with charitable ventures for a long time, helping other football clubs in financial disarray as well as ordinary people in misery. In the wake of the 2004 Tsunami the "FC Bayern – Hilfe e.V." was founded, a foundation that aims to concentrate the social engagements of the club. At its inception this venture was funded with 600,000€, raised by officials and players of the club. The money was amongst other things used to build a school in Marathenkerny, Sri Lanka and to rebuild the area of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. In April 2007 it was decided that the focus of the foundation would shift towards supporting people in need locally.

The club has also time and again shown to have a soft spot for clubs in financial disarray. Repeatedly the club has supported its local rival 1860 Munich with gratuitous friendlies, transfers at favorable rates, and direct money transfers. Also when St. Pauli threatened to lose its license for professional football due to financial problems, Bayern met the club for a friendly game free of any charge, giving all revenues to St. Pauli. More recently when Mark van Bommel's home club Fortuna Sittard was in financial distress Bayern came to a charity game at the Dutch club. Another well known example was the transfer of Alexander Zickler in 1993 from Dynamo Dresden. When Bayern picked up Zickler for 2.3 Million DM many considered the sum to be a subvention for the financially threatened Dresdeners. In 2003, Bayern provided a 2 Million Euro loan without collateral to the nearly bankrupt Borussia Dortmund which has since been repaid.