Hoeneß Calls Munich Champions League Final a 'Special Dream' as He Rejects Treble-Or-Bust Demands

'Reaching the Final in Munich Is a Particularly Special Dream'

Bayern Munich honorary president Uli Hoeneß has set out his ambitions for the Champions League final that will be staged at his club's own Allianz Arena next season — and he is deliberately refusing to turn it into a target to be measured against.

"Reaching the final is always the goal. And reaching the final in Munich is a particularly special dream. But you can't plan something like that,"

Hoeneß was speaking in an exclusive interview with Welt am Sonntag, and his tone was notably more measured than the famously demanding line he delivered back in 2012, when Bayern were chasing a showpiece final on home soil.

Hoeneß, who was club president when Bayern lost the previous "Finale dahoam" against Chelsea in 2012, knows better than most how fragile a home final can be.

Suspensions, Injuries and the Trouble With Ultimatums

The 74-year-old pushed back hard on the idea that only a treble will do for Bayern's season, arguing that such talk ignores how much can go wrong across a campaign.

"You shouldn't reduce everything to winning a trophy. So much can happen — suspensions, injuries. When I hear people say, 'The treble is the only objective,' it frustrates me."

Instead, Hoeneß returned to a theme he has promoted repeatedly in the same interview: Bayern's identity as a members' club rather than a project funded from outside.

"We have a different philosophy from clubs where money is no object, where hedge funds or entire countries finance the club."

"We now have more than 450,000 members. When I joined FC Bayern in 1979, we had 8,000. A third of our members have never been able to watch one of our matches in our stadium because it is always sold out, and yet our membership continues to grow relentlessly. That is an enormous success."

A Dream, Not a Demand

Hoeneß's comments came in the same interview in which he addressed Bayern's new shareholder structure, with Viessmann Generations Group joining Adidas, Audi and Allianz among the club's major external investors — a deal confirmed earlier this week, following the club's announcement on 22 October 2026 of Viessmann as its fourth external shareholder in a €250m ownership shake-up.

For Bayern, a Champions League final in Munich remains the prize the whole club is chasing. Hoeneß's point is simply that chasing it should not come with a guarantee — or a punishment if it slips away.