Bayern Munich announce Allianz Arena expansion

Before Christmas, we spoke about how the final hurdles had come down ahead of Bayern Munich's proposed expansion, and this has now been confirmed by the club after the Munich city planning commission approved the final details. Capacity for Bundesliga matches has increased to 75,000 and just under 70,000 for the Champions League. We previously relayed the reported 69,344 capacity for Champions League matches.

"We would like to thank the municipal authorities, police and fire service for the productive cooperation in this matter," said FC Bayern Deputy Chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen. Of course, the biggest beneficiary of this expansion are the supporters. Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said as much, "We're extremely pleased that from now on we can give even more fans the chance to attend our team's matches."

Bayern's first home match of the Rückrunde with the seating capacity will be the February 3rd match against Schalke. The arena expansion will be officially reviewed in July once the season is completed.