The Bomber and the Kaiser ultimately take places one and two in the big Miasanrot ranking of the best fifteen players in Bayern history. There have certainly been votes with more surprising outcomes. In the interest of complete transparency and comprehensibility, we’ll show you once more the complete ranking list. Included are both the average points tally as well as the best placement in an individual ranking.

Position Name Position Average Points Best Position Mentions 1 Gerd Müller Forward 13,9 1 (x7) 15 2 Franz Beckenbauer Defence 13,3 1 (x6) 14 3 Philipp Lahm Defence 11,1 1 14 4 Oliver Kahn Goalkeeper 9,7 2 14 5 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge Forward 8,8 3 14 6 Lothar Matthäus Midfield 7,6 3 14 7 Bastian Schweinsteiger Midfield 7,5 2 13 8 Paul Breitner Midfield 7,1 4 13 9 Arjen Robben Forward 6,4 1 14 10 Klaus Augenthaler Defence 4,1 6 10 11 Sepp Maier Goalkeeper 4,0 3 8 12 Franck Ribéry Midfield 3,5 6 11 13 Manuel Neuer Goalkeeper 2,8 5 8 14 Georg Schwarzenbeck Defence 2,5 7 9 15 Mehmet Scholl Midfield 2,3 4 6

The calculation of the points tally was as follows: for every placement on a list, a player received points. Here the first-placed player in a list got fifteen, the second fourteen, the third thirteen and so on. If a player was not nominated, then he got zero points. At the end, all fifteen lists were calculated together and an average points tally was made for each player. According to that points tally, entered into the table, the final ranking list was arranged.

A total of four players were voted for in first place. Gerd Müller and Franz Beckenbauer were the only two players who were nominated here more than once, with the Bomber in fact being placed once more often at number one. In Lahm and Robben, two players from the latest generation also received votes for first place. Kahn, Schweinsteiger, Rummenigge, Matthäus and Maier all got a podium place in at least one list.

Overview of Bayern players with the most trophies and official appearances

The Twitter user Josef H. has put together a graph for us in which an overview of Bayern players with the most trophies and appearances is displayed. The players who come up in our top 15 ranking list are highlighted in red. The player with the most appearances who doesn’t come up in the list is Bernd Wipf Dürnberger, who between 1972 and 1985 played a total of 501 games for the Reds. The place for the most trophies without appearing in the series is shared between: Bixente Lizarazu, Andreas Zickler, Claudio Pizarro, David Alaba and Thomas Müller with twelve trophies.

The forgotten men

As in every ranking list, the Miasanrot ranking also includes well-deserving players not found elsewhere. The list of the best Bayern players of all time is, of course, much longer than fifteen players and as a result some big names miss out as well.

Most narrowly missing out were Thomas Müller and Stefan Effenberg. The Raumdeuter received an average of 1.93 points, with the Tiger not far behind with 1.80 points. Our author Tobias Hahn describes how he sees things with Müller: “Thomas Müller could certainly have received his place in the top 15 as well. Maybe it’s because of his plain way of playing and the fact that he played in probably one of the strongest teams in FC Bayern’s history. Added to that are the weaker performances since 2016, that’s why for me he didn’t end up in the top 15 list.” Müller appears in a total of seven lists, where his best ranking was in ninth place.

An explanation as to why for him Effenberg wasn’t in the top 15 list was given by Miasanrot author Tobi Redrobbery: “Even though Stefan Effenberg is one the first names that have to come up in the discussion around the 2001 Champions League triumph, his Bayern career, which was in fact short, was not dominant enough on the pitch to assert himself against the unbelievably strong competition. Anyone who spent only six years in Munich and still wants to be in the top 15 must have played consistently at a world class level. On good days Effenberg doubtlessly did that, yet the consistency of his technical dominance was found wanting. That’s why I unfortunately couldn’t consider him in my ranking.” The Tiger was represented in six lists, where he was once put as high as eighth.

Likewise, the list missed out Franz Bulle Roth, who stabilised the Bayern midfield in the 70s, covering immense ground. Best known are certainly his three goals to put Bayern ahead in European Cup knock-out games. Our Miasanrot historian Tobias Günther put Roth in his top 15 list – as three others did. He justified this with reference to the powerful shot and strength in duels possessed by “Mr European Cup”, who over his career was the embodiment of the miasanmia motto. On top of that, the Bulle was the perfect complementary supplement to Beckenbauer in midfield.

Long-time manager and today’s president Uli Hoeneß is not to be found in the list either. As a player, Hoeneß was a fast wide forward with a flowing blonde mane. For blogger Christian Nandelstadt, Hoeneß is one of the fifteen best Bayern players – an opinion shared by just one other judge. He writes: “Uli was part of the legendary Bayern team of the 70s. In his short career he became a world champion, European champion, and European Cup winner three times. Insane! He scored decisive goals and with his powerful and equally technically strong way of playing as well as his mentality he was a rather important factor in the team. Back then he was seen as the “fastest striker in Europe” and, something easily overlooked, after Gerd Müller he was the strongest goalscorer in the team at the start of the 70s. Normally I wouldn’t put somebody with such a short career in the top list. But with so many trophies won, I will.”

Finally, Michael Ballack is also missing in such a list. On him, our editor Enrico Saft writes: “I would have liked to have seen Michael Ballack in the top 15 list. In his time at Bayern he was seen as one of the best and most deadly midfielders in Europe and in his total of four seasons at Bayern he won the Double three times. In 107 games he scored 44 goals for Bayern. Unfortunately with his repeated wish to play abroad at some point, he ensured that his loyalty to FC Bayern was questioned. Probably one of the reasons, alongside his short time in Munich, why he didn’t make it into the top 15 list.” Ballack was nominated twice.

Your opinions

But now to conclude our series, we would like to hear from you. Who belongs in the top 15 in Bayern history for you? Do vote in our questionnaire. The results will then be published on the blog in the near future.

Click on this link and vote:

Questionnaire top 15 ranking list