Bayern Munich Business Briefs: Michael Diederich succeeds Jan-Christian Dreesen as CFO and executive vice chairman at Bayern Munich; Apple CEO visits Bayern; Bayern inks deal with new partner

Bayern Munich released a statement via its website indicating that CFO and executive vice chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen has stepped down from his position and will be replaced by Michael Diederich:

Dr. Michael Diederich, 57, will be the new chief financial officer and executive vice chairman of FC Bayern München AG. Diederich will thus succeed Jan-Christian Dreesen, 55, on 1 July 2023. Dreesen had informed chairman of the supervisory board Herbert Hainer that he would not extend his contract, which expires next summer. However, he will continue to carry out his role at FC Bayern as before until the end of his contract on 30 June 2023.

Diederich is currently spokesman of the board of Unicredit Bank AG, where he has held various management positions since 1996. Since 2018, Diederich has also been a member of the supervisory board of FC Bayern München AG.

Diederich will be appointed as a regular member of the executive board of FC Bayern München AG as early as 1 April 2023 in order to ensure a smooth transition in the subsequent three months until 1 July 2023 together with Dreesen, until he takes office as chief financial officer and executive vice chairman.

Apple CEO Tim Cook visits Bayern

Apple CEO Tim Cook also visited Bayern Munich’s campus this week:

There was a very special visitor to the FC Bayern Campus this week as CEO Oliver Kahn, board member for marketing Andreas Jung and Campus director Jochen Sauer hosted Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, at the German record champions’ club campus in northern Munich.

During the visit to the Campus, Cook showed great interest in Bayern’s youth work. For example, Cook asked about the interplay between the footballing and academic education, which countries the young players come from and how many talents have made it into the first team so far.

According to Kahn, Cook was very intrigued by the technology that the club was using on campus.

“It was a great honor for FC Bayern to have Tim Cook here,” said Kahn. He is very interested in the technology we use at the campus,” Kahn described. “For me personally, exchanging ideas with him was a valuable experience,”

Jung explained things a little further.

“He also visited because he’d heard that we work a lot with data and analysis, especially in the youth sector,” Jung said.

Sauer said it was fascinating to discuss the topic of data analysis with Cook.

“In football, it is becoming more and more important to do data-based analysis to know where players have their strengths and weaknesses,” Sauer explained. “It was highly interesting to discuss these details with Tim Cook. In football, it’s becoming more and more important to analyze things based on data, in order to know where the players’ strengths and weaknesses lie.”

Jung wrapped it all up, by saying if Apple wants to talk...you have to listen.

“Apple is one of the biggest and most well-known companies in the world. When a company boss like Tim Cook takes the time to drop by at FC Bayern, it’s something special,” said Jung.

Bayern partners with Libertex

Bayern Munichalso announced that it has partnered with Libertex as its official online trading platform:

FC Bayern has concluded a cooperation with Libertex, one of the leading online trading platforms in CFD and foreign exchange trading, until 2025. The cooperation includes numerous activities such as the presence on the LED perimeter boards at home games in the Allianz Arena.

Michael Geiger, CEO of Libertex: “With over 290,000 members, FC Bayern is the sports club with the most members worldwide. Like their club, the fans are particularly hungry for success, but they are also fair and level-headed after defeats - that impressed us. We are very pleased to be the official online trading partner of Germany’s most successful club from now on.”