Secret Bayern Meeting: How Hoeneß, Eberl and Co. Secure Peace

At FC Bayern, coordination in the innermost power center is apparently being reorganized. A fixed six-week rhythm is intended to provide clearer lines after months of friction over transfer and leadership issues – between the sporting management and the key supervisory bodies.

A Fixed Date for the Power Center

On the evening of December 1, the leadership of FC Bayern gathered at the “Bayerischer Hof” on Promenadeplatz for the Christmas dinner. Before that, the last supervisory board meeting of the year had taken place. In the group were Herbert Hainer, Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge (Supervisory Board) as well as Jan-Christian Dreesen and Max Eberl (Executive Board).

More important than the meeting itself is the structural consequence that is said to have resulted from it: In the innermost leadership circle, a regular “jour fixe” has been agreed upon. Hoeneß, Hainer, Rummenigge, CEO Dreesen and Sporting Director Eberl will now meet every six weeks at Säbener Straße. This quintet would thus meet significantly more often than the supervisory board, which meets about every three months.

In terms of content, the meetings are to focus on current sporting topics and structural questions. For the club, this would be a step towards shorter paths between the operational top (Executive Board) and supervision (Supervisory Board) – precisely the interface where decisions about squad, budgets and strategy come together in practice at FC Bayern. Eberl could bring the sporting perspective – including the considerations of coach Vincent Kompany and sporting director Christoph Freund – directly into the group. Most recently, the group of five met on Friday, November 28.

Why the Exchange Has Become More Important Now

The new rhythm also seems like a reaction to the past months, in which things are said not to have always been smooth internally. Especially regarding transfer issues, there were at times tensions, particularly between Eberl on one side and Hoeneß and Rummenigge on the other.

Eberl himself described the phase as labor-intensive and conflict-prone: “Uli, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Jan-Christian Dreesen, Herbert Hainer and I. At times, it was also a shaking up in recent months, with discussions and differences of opinion. Internally and externally. But all of this contributed greatly to us being where we are today. We know that there can be different opinions, but above all, we know what we have in each other.”

The summer transfers in particular are considered an example of how great the need for coordination in the club has become. Eberl, among other things, pursued the plan to bring in Xavi Simons. Such personnel decisions at FC Bayern are not only sporting questions, but automatically also questions of the overall package: salary, possible bonus structures, contract duration and the indirect effects on the entire salary structure. The higher the sums, the more the topic becomes a governance issue – and thus a matter where the executive board negotiates, but the supervisory board wants to be closely involved.

This logic is also at the core of the recent frictions: When sporting ambition, financial guidelines and public expectations all rise at the same time, coordination problems quickly become power issues. Eberl had to – as is heard from the club – get used to coordinating contract issues more closely with the supervisory board during negotiations and to present financial packages more openly.

There is also the personal factor. Eberl sometimes reacts emotionally; Hoeneß has described him in this context as “sensitive.” The impression that arises is less one of sudden harmony – rather, it is a consciously organized mode to bring different interests to the table earlier and avoid misunderstandings.

The fact that the situation currently appears calmer is also likely due to sporting stability. How resilient the internal peace is, experience shows only when sporting pressure increases – and squad or budget decisions become contentious again.

The Leadership Structure Remains in Motion

The closer exchange fits a leadership that continues to sort itself out in terms of personnel and organization. Eberl currently forms a two-person executive board together with Dreesen. On January 1, 2026, Rouven Kasper is to join Munich as Executive Board Member for Marketing and Sales and also move up into the leadership circle. Michael Diederich has already left the club as of September 30; the previous position of Deputy CEO will not be filled again in the new organizational chart.

Even outside the official bodies, the club leadership seeks direct contact. On November 17, another meeting is said to have taken place at Tegernsee at the invitation of Hoeneß. Officially, it was an event related to the basketball department. But reportedly, Hoeneß, Rummenigge, Hainer, Dreesen, Freund and Kompany also sat at one table. Eberl was absent because he was on vacation during the international break.

The topics at the Christmas dinner also show that the leadership’s view goes beyond the day-to-day business of the professionals. Among other things, the budget of the women’s football team and a stadium project at SpVgg Unterhaching, which Bayern wants to buy and renovate, are said to have been discussed.

All in all, the new jour fixe is above all an organizational signal: FC Bayern is relying on shorter paths and earlier involvement in the innermost circle – in the hope of bringing sporting decisions, economic responsibility and political reality in the club closer together again.