Bayern Munich Shirt History - All The Kits & Sponsors
Founded in 1900, Bayern Munich have gone on to become Germany’s biggest and most successful football club. Along the way, the German outfit has smashed record after record in the Bundesliga, but have they done it in style? Let’s take a look through their kit manufacturing and sponsorship history.
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Bayern Shirt History - Downloadable Checklist
FC Bayern Munich Kit Manufacturer History
1974 – present – Adidas
It is well-known that Adidas is one of the world’s largest sports brands with a wealth of Europe’s top clubs on their manufacturing list, but what makes this deal a little more romantic is the fact that the three-stripe brand, like Bayern, originate out of Germany. The current contract between the pair expires in 2030, but with a partnership that dates back to the mid 70’s, it would be quite remarkable if either of them decided to move on. Adding to the romance of this deal is the ownership model that German clubs follow – if you don’t know much about it, then we would definitely advise reading up on it, but to cut a potential long story short, it has resulted in Adidas becoming stakeholders in Bayern with an 8.33% share.
Just one more thing to make this partnership a little extra special, due to rules set in place by the German Football Association (DFB) being lifted in October 1973, Adidas were the first brand to have their logo appear on a Bayern jersey. However, amidst all of the niceties, this lengthy relationship hasn’t been without a little bit of drama…
In 2018/19, Bayern Munich fans furiously protested against the club’s new home shirt due to the use of navy sleeve cuffs on the shirt and its matching navy shorts. The Bavarians followers opposed to the use of blue because it is the primary colour of their city rivals 1860 Munich. The fury eventually led to a statement being released by the club promising that it wouldn’t happen again and from the following campaign onwards only red and white home kits would be supplied.
Although, it would be understandable if the displease from supporters resulted in some confused faces in the Adidas headquarters, with several blue features appearing on home shirts previously. In fact, this happened even as recently as 2014/15 with a vertically striped concept which is a throwback to a design which first seen the light of day in Bayern colours back in 1968/69. This wasn’t the first time that a modernised version of this strip had been attempted, as prior to this in 1995/96 a smart polo version was used and it even ended up as part of a UEFA Cup winning collection. Finally, on the blue saga, Bayern’s audience of today certainly wouldn’t have approved of the clubs predominately blue home top which was worn from 1997 until 1999 – although it did have a cool high collar with FCB stitched into its centre.
During the aforementioned UEFA Cup winning campaign in 1995/96, Bayern wore an eye pleasing away top which was specifically used in European competitions. It was white with a diamond print embossed and it had a conjoined blue and red stripe running down its right. The success of this shirt seen it promoted to being the full away strip in the following campaign.
Adidas’ first ever Bayern home top was simply red with the word Adidas largely written across its chest in white and from 1997 the German club enjoyed their Adidas Originals era with a set of minimalistic jerseys. The first real impressive strip came in 1987/88 and it was white with thin blue and red diagonal pinstripes
The Adidas Originals branding was cut in 1991 and the regular Adidas branding was introduced with a bang through a rather ‘out there’ home shirt. It had three iconic blue large stripes, which were outlined in white, flowing over its right shoulder and they were unmissable. The aforementioned new Adidas branding took centre place on its neckline. The away jersey was also eye catching as it followed the same concept in white and red, but the home versions classical status was confirmed by the fact that a special edition of it released in 2020/21.
In the following collection which was released in 1993/94, the three shoulder stripes remained and three more were added in the bottom left corner to make up a broken sash concept. Another difference to this collection on the home top was the fact that sleeves had turned blue. Again, the away had the same features, but it wasn’t without noteworthiness given it was yellow with green and black details. This was the first time that the club had used this colour combination in their history and there hasn’t been anything quite like it since.
Bayern won their first Champions League trophy since 1976 in 2000/01 and they won it while wearing their European specific home top. Unlike their regular home jersey for this campaign, it featured no blue at all. The Bavarians had to wait until 2012/13 for the next Champions League title and the home top for that year was rather elegant – it had wavy tonal pinstripes and golden details. However, it wasn’t the top that Bayern donned in the final, with the following seasons home shirt being promoted instead. Luckily, that one wasn’t too bad either and it seen a reintroduction of the tonal diamond imprint which takes inspiration from the club crest.
Adidas have thrived in in producing a number of pleasing alternate jerseys throughout their time with the German giants and honourable mentions have come in the form of the gold away top released in 2004, the blue striped third strip in 2013/14, the mint coloured away jersey from 2018/19, their unique third kit from 2020/21 and, finally, the Alps inspired third top worn in 2021/22. Another shirt that technically wasn’t a home top, but is impressive, is the special strip which the players worn for one half against Hoffenheim in 2016/17. It was completely red, including the sponsorship features, and its aim was to raise awareness for the fight against the pollution of the ocean. It was dyed using water-based paint in an environmentally friendly process.
We have seen many variations of the Bayern home strip since the beginning of this partnership and there hasn’t really been a set way of doing things. From vertical stripes, to tonal differences, to hoops, we have seen a lot, but the white colour prominence on the 2023/24 home top is something that we haven’t really seen for some time – although we did see a glimpse of it through an anniversary strip released in 2019/20. The third top used for this campaign is also unique for a couple of reasons. One is because of the floral print, which Adidas claim is inspired by the ‘blooms adorning the Bavarian mountains’, and another is due to the use of an old, fan favourite, club crest.
1973 – 1974 – Erima
Erima’s website claims that they are the oldest German sports brand still in existence. Both of the shirts worn during this campaign were classy, although Erima can’t take the credit for the away top given that it was originally manufactured by their predecessors. The home jersey proudly paraded white and red stripes.
1971 – 1973 – Adidas
Adidas’ relationship with Bayern first begun in 1971 and they are the brand responsible for the impressive away top spoken about in the previous section. It was white with a blue and red stripe feature to its right. Albeit simplistic, the three-stripe brand often supplied four jerseys per season during this spell.
1964 – 1971 – Palme
Historically, Palme worked with the club when they achieved promotion to the Bundesliga in 1965.
Heart-warmingly, in 2018 Palme teamed up with The Kurt Landauer Foundation, a charity set up by Bayern fans to celebrate and commemorate their former presidents life, history and values, to rerelease one of the jerseys worn during this period. It is believed that the remakes were exactly like the original.
FC Bayern Munich Shirt Sponsorship History
Bayern’s manufacturing contract with Adidas tells us that they value lengthy relationships, but is this the case with front of shirt sponsors too? Let’s find out…
2002 – present – T-Mobile
Telecommunications company, T-Mobile, is more widely known across Germany as Deutsche Telekom.
There are a couple of exclusive agreements bedded into this contract which is expected to run up until 2027, including free access to content offered on FC Bayern TV through the Magenta TV subscription service. This is why you may have noticed Magenta TV’s branding appear on the German club’s shirt a couple of times since 2002.
The T-Mobile feature has always been pretty much text-based, although we have seen various different concepts of it. T with multiple dashes, T-Mobile, T-Com and T-Home has all appeared, however the newest feature of -T- combines elegance and intrigue.
1989 – 2002 – Opel
Opel was a German car manufacturer in its own right, although it is now a subsidiary of Stellantis. In the United Kingdom these models are now marketed under Vauxhall.
For the most part, Opel’s feature combined their laid-back logo and the word ‘Opel’, although they were partial to ditching the emblem on a few occasions.
1984 – 1989 – Commodore
Commodore, who is an American home computer and electronics brand, also placed their logo above their name. Thankfully, like Opel, it wasn’t overpowering, it wasn’t an eye sore and it instead complimented the jerseys quite well.
1978 – 1984 – Iveco Magirus / Magirus Deutz
Iveco Magirus and Magirus Deutz are both linked to the same German truck manufacturing organisation which was founded in 1864. Both of their features were simply text-based with no emblems involved.
1974 – 1978 – Adidas
In the early years of the manufacturing partnership, Adidas were technically also FC Bayern’s first ever front of shirt sponsor.
Conclusion
Interestingly, with only one non-German brand mentioned during this piece, it would appear that Bayern tend to favour dealing with German brands. Would that leave Puma next in line if an unthinkable Adidas split ever became reality?
Seriously speaking, Adidas have done a remarkable job of supplying for the German giants despite the blue controversy, and they have impressively all but avoided completely hideous designs so far.
Some would say that FC Bayern Munich is the model football club with fantastic values and their history displayed in this article evidences both trust and longevity as two of those values, given their considerably long relationships with Adidas, T-Mobile and Opel.