Sports legend of FC Bayern
Sepp Maier cries and treats himself to a sip of wheat beer
As of: 2:19 p.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
Sepp Maier at the opening of the exhibition
Source: dpa/Angelika Warmuth
FC Bayern is dedicating a special exhibition to its goalkeeper legend Sepp Maier. The 80-year-old opens the show and is overwhelmed by his emotions. Then he mainly talks about Uli Hoeneß.
With tears from the touched Sepp Maier, FC Bayern ceremoniously opened the special exhibition on the occasion of the Munich club legend’s 80th birthday. “I was close to tears,” said the former world-class goalkeeper on Tuesday and then had to cry. A film about Maier’s life had previously been shown. “If you’ve been with the club for 50 years, you have to expect something like that,” said Maier on the podium with a wink and treated himself to a sip of wheat beer.
“Dear Sepp, in my eyes you are the original Bavarian of Mia san Mia,” said President Herbert Hainer in tribute to the German goalkeeper idol in the FC Bayern museum in the Allianz Arena. Maier’s parades were “just as important as Franz (Beckenbauer)’s passes and Gerd’s (Müller) goals” for the Munich team. Numerous long-time companions such as Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were present.
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Maier, who turned 80 on February 28th, spoke warmly about Hoeneß at the entertaining event. After the goalkeeper’s serious traffic accident in 1979, which meant the end of Maier’s career at the age of 35, the Bayern patron took care of him. “If it wasn’t for Uli Hoeneß, I would have been dead for 45 years,” said Maier.
Maier played for FC Bayern for 17 years
In the exhibition “All the best, Sepp Maier!”, which runs until May 5th, you can see selected exhibits, such as the goalkeeper gloves from the 1970s that Maier helped develop. “You were the first entertainer in international football,” said Hainer and called Maier “the first Thomas Müller of FC Bayern” because of his emotionality and motivational skills.
Maier with his wife Monika (r.), his daughter Alexandra (2nd from left) and his granddaughter Maxima
Source: dpa/Angelika Warmuth
Maier played for FC Bayern for 17 years and played 709 competitive games. Among other things, he won four championships and the European Cup three times.
