German giants FC Bayern Munich will face the Indian national team in the “Audi Football Summit” on January 10, 2012. The match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi will be another highlight in the long and strong association between the Bundesliga outfit and Indian football.

Bayern Munich returned to India in 2009 after enjoying two successful visits to Kolkata in the earlier years. The Germans honoured the “City of Joy” for a third time, when the 2nd team travelled to the eastern Indian city for a one week mid-season training camp cum exposure tour.

It was the second visit of the FC Bayern Munich II team to India after a gap of three years. In December 2005 the youthful side had participated and won the 111th IFA Shield 2005 (read the article “Flashback 2005”).

The Bayern contingent arrived in Kolkata on January 15, 2009 on a Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt with a delay and diversion via Hyderabad due to prevailing fog conditions. The squad included youngster like Thomas Müller and Holger Badstuber, who were still “no names” in early 2009.

The team hit the training pitch at East Bengal Club’s Maidan Ground in the afternoon to get accustomed to the warm Kolkata weather, while the club’s International Affairs Manager Martin Hägele and Youth Development Officer Werner Kern faced the media after the training session.

Bayern’s assistant coach Gerd Müller arrived in the “City of Joy” on January 16 after a long trip from Florida via Munich and was welcomed by the football fans with lots of “Bomber, Bomber” chants and cheers. Müller was once again in the centre of attention for many fans and the media. The “Bomber-mania” gripped the “City of Joy”…

FC Bayern Munich II faced Kolkata giants East Bengal Club in their first of three friendly matches on Indian soil. The match took place at Barasat on January 17 and the visitors won the match with Deniz Yilmaz scoring the lone goal of the match.

The Germans had an easier game in the second meeting between these two sides just two days later. Bayern routed East Bengal 5-1 at the East Bengal Club Ground and Deniz Yilmaz once again proved to be the main hit man for the Bavarians. Yilmaz scored a hat trick, while India striker Sunil Chhetri found the target for the home team.

Bayern’s last game took place against a Mayor’s XI at the Kanchenjungha Stadium in Siliguri. The Bavarians won the match 6-0 with Thomas Müller and Holger Badstuber hitting the target.

Müller turned into one of the main stars of Bayern’s 1st team and even the German national team just months after the visit to India. Young Thomas Müller’s name made it to the international headlines at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, when he was named the “Best Young Player of the Tournament” and won the “Golden Boot Award” as the tournament’s top scorer, with five goals and three assists.

The Bayern team enjoyed their stay in the city of Kolkata, which also played host to Bayern’s 1st team for the “Oliver Kahn Farewell Match” in 2008 (read the article “Flashback 2008”). The German team didn’t leave the city without visiting the late Mother Teresa’s “Missionary of Charity” and a children’s home. The youngsters were really moved by the places they visited and some of the players stated that they will never forget the impressions the soaked in India.

The FC Bayern Munich II team left India with a one-day stop-over in Delhi. Indian football fans once again enjoyed the presence of the German giants on the sub-continent and they knew it wouldn’t be the last visit of a Bayern team to India.

Please visit www.chrispd.de and LIKE www.facebook.com/cpd81 to read the next feature on Bayern Munich’s Indian chapter!

The next feature will be “FC Bayern Munich in India – Flashback 2010” – The visit of the FC Bayern All-Stars…!

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MATCH STATS

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Friendly Match I
at Barasat

East Bengal Club 0-1 FC Bayern Munich II

GOALS
0-1 Deniz Yilmaz (3′)

LINE-UPS

East Bengal Club
21-Avijit Ghosh; 17-Syed Rahim Nabi, 3-Nirmal Chetri, 29-Soumik Dey, 32-Gautam Kujur (14-Mumtaj Akhtar); 22-Sanju Pradhan, 7-Jayanta Sen, 15-Dharamjit Singh (17-Khangembam Jibon Singh, 9-Alvito D’Cunha), 14-Mehtab Hussain; 16-Saheb Ali Mondol, 25-Parveen Kumar (10-Ashim Biswas)

FC Bayern Munich II
1-Maximilian Riedmüller; 3-Oliver Stierle, 4-Georg Niedermeier, 5-Christian Saba, 16-Stefan Schürf; 6-Holger Badstuber, 13-Tom Schütz, 21-Thomas Müller, 22-Marco Stier; 10-Deniz Yilmaz, 17-Viktor Bopp

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Friendly Match II
at the East Bengal Club Ground

East Bengal Club 1-5 FC Bayern Munich II

GOALS
0-1,0-2,0-4 Deniz Yilmaz (4′,27′,42′), 0-3 Thomas Müller (29′), 1-4 Sunil Chetri (52′), 1-5 Marco Stier (69′)

East Bengal Club
24-Subrata Pal; 17-Syed Rahim Nabi, 3-Nirmal Chetri, 4-Suley Musah (14-Mehtab Hussain), 29-Soumik Dey; 22-Sanju Pradhan, 7-Jayanta Sen, 26-Mehraj din Wadoo, 25-Parveen Kumar (9-Alvito D’Cunha); 16-Saheb Ali Mondol (10-Ashim Biswas), 11-Sunil Chetri

FC Bayern Munich II
1-Maximilian Riedmüller; 3-Oliver Stierle, 4-Georg Niedermeier, 5-Christian Saba, 16-Stefan Schürf; 6-Holger Badstuber, 13-Tom Schütz, 21-Thomas Müller, 22-Marco Stier; 10-Deniz Yilmaz, 17-Viktor Bopp

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Friendly Match III
at Kanchenjungha Stadium, Siliguri

Siliguri Mayor’s XI 0-6 FC Bayern Munich II

GOALS
0-1 Holger Badstuber (10′), 0-2 Thomas Müller (14′), 0-3,0-5 Stephan Fürstner (41′,73′), 0-4,0-6 Deniz Yilmaz (67′,85′)