20 years of the Allianz Arena - a tribute | OneFootball

Twenty years and not a bit quiet: the opening of the Allianz Arena in 2005 not only marked the beginning of a golden era for FC Bayern, but also the dawn of modern football in Germany. A tribute.

The seating surface of the collapsible chairs at the Arena is around 40 by 40 centimetres, 0.16 square metres per spectator. That’s comfortable – but actually way too much. Because the longer the match goes on, the more Michael Olise and Jamal Musiala sprint towards the opposition goal, the more you edge forward on your seat. You lean towards the pitch, sit on the edge of your chair, teeter on your toes, your whole body under tension, ready to jump up when the goal is finally scored and 75,000 people shout: “Jaaaaaaaa!”

When FC Bayern walked out at the Allianz Arena for the first time 20 years ago and beat the German national team 4-2, the football world was agreed: this is the best stadium in the world. “Glorious” (The Guardian), “A work of art” (Die Welt), “What a sanctuary” (Süddeutsche Zeitung). Even the left-wing Tageszeitung in Berlin wrote that the stadium was “much more beautiful, much more ambitious, much greater” than you would’ve expected from FCB. Yet despite all the superlatives, no one anticipated how groundbreaking and influential this stadium would actually be. The Arena marked the beginning of modern football in Germany.

The facade of the Allianz Arena in north Munich quickly became a landmark.

Speak to Uli Hoeneß today about the Arena and he praises it as the greatest stadium in the world – but also highlights the historical context. “If Franz Beckenbauer hadn’t brought the football World Cup to Germany, this arena wouldn’t be here.” Suddenly the never-ending stadium debate in Munich ended, suddenly there was a construction site. If the world was to be a guest among friends, a nice living room was also needed. Hoeneß admits that he “couldn’t really imagine it with the red tyres at first”. But because the decision-making committee was wise enough to vote in favour of the ingenious and economical design by architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the opening match of the 2006 World Cup took place at the Allianz Arena.

A winning run straight after opening

On the pitch, a style of football that was closer to the past still dominated: crosses from deep and a lot of physicality. But in the second half of the noughties, something began to change – and the Allianz Arena became a laboratory for a new era. Suddenly people were talking about dynamic passing, forming triangles and controlling space. The Bundesliga also started modern data collection in 2005, with provider Opta Sports recording up to 2,000 events per game, heat maps, running data and passing rates. What used to be taken down in coaches’ notebooks was now discussed in the public, on TV shows, in fan pubs and social media. The evolution is reflected in the data: in 2005 Bayern played an average of 377 passes per match – six years later it was over 600. And while the Reds had an average of 18 penalty area actions per game in 2005/06, there were more than twice as many in the 2013/14 season.

The Allianz Arena offered a stage for this new football: under Louis van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes and Pep Guardiola, Bayern not only played the most successful football in Europe, but also the most attractive. It was as if the innovative architecture had rubbed off on the style of play. One precondition for this: a perfect playing surface. And: the proximity to the fans, who inspired the players to great comebacks, unforgettable goals and legendary victories which wouldn’t have happened in a different stadium, such as the 4-0 win over Barcelona in the 2013 Champions League semi-final, the dramatic 4-2 comeback triumph against Juventus in 2016 or the commanding 3-0 win over Bayer Leverkusen just a few months ago.

Simply the most beautiful stadium in the world: Jürgen Muth, managing director of the Allianz Arena, says: "I'm happy when people copy us."

All fans feel the moment of ‘release’

Football has become faster, more complex and more spectacular since 2005 – and the Allianz Arena captures it all with the Spidercam under the roof, which provides new perspectives. With Wi-Fi from day one, and even a 5G network from 2020, so that everyone can broadcast their experiences to the world. The most important moment in a football stadium, wrote Nobel Prize winner Elias Canetti, is the moment of “release”: when everyone in the stands “gets rid of their differences and feels the same. People go to the stadium for the sake of this happy moment, when no one is more or better than anyone else.” And the fans on devices can also sense the Arena feeling. This is crucial, because the noughties were also the beginning of an economic turnaround in football.

With the Allianz Arena, FC Bayern has succeeded in remaining competitive internationally in an age of investors and oligarchs. In 2005 Bayern’s turnover was around 200 million euros. In 2024 the club broke through the billion-euro barrier for the first time. This has also been made possible by a stadium that is almost always sold out for FCB men’s matches and attracts three million people per year.

Income from the Allianz Arena – merchandising, hospitality, events – has continuously increased since opening, according to managing director Jürgen Muth. As well as Bundesliga and Champions League games, corporate events, tours, NFL games and soon pop concerts are also held. “The Allianz Arena should function for both the fans in the stands as well as for the visitors who want to enjoy the event,” said stadium boss Muth. A match lasts 90 minutes, but the Arena is open for six hours. “A lot is possible there,” explains Muth. But what’s also important is that the cheapest Bundesliga ticket costs just €15 (comparable tickets for the top teams in the Premier League are two to three times more expensive).

The identity on the shell: in 2005 the Arena was able to display three colours, today it's 16 million.

The Allianz Arena: A stadium for all

When the Allianz Arena opened its doors in 2005, architect Jacques Herzog said: “A football stadium has never been thought through so methodically to the end before.” When you open the heavy iron gates, you walk through functional concrete corridors that lead you directly to the centre: the pitch. The shops and kiosks are recessed in concrete pillars, with simple typography above: “Beer”, “Bratwurst”, “Popcorn”. Nobody is distracted or diverted off course. And this design works. You notice it if you quickly glance away from the field during a match and look at the Munich night sky – a little shock, a reminder that the outside world still exists. While other clubs build multi-purpose stadiums with hotels, cinemas and flagship stores, Bayern believes that there’s nothing more fascinating than the ‘beautiful game’.

The killer feature of the Allianz Arena: it is both an image generator and a cauldron. It works both for the fans in the stadium, who are absorbed in the game and the crowd, and for the spectators at home, who experience the pulsating, bouncing Südkurve – and the panoramic shots that celebrate and prove the shape and colour of the Arena. Yes, it really does exist. The Allianz Arena always looks spectacular, no matter what angle you look at it from. As early as 2005, the ADAC warned drivers on the A9 motorway about the luminosity of the stadium. They were afraid that the Arena would distract drivers like the northern lights or another natural spectacle. Twenty years later, there is no evidence of an increased risk of accidents, but anyone coming from the north and driving past the Arena knows: finally in Munich. Finally ‘dahoam’.

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When you walk across the esplanade towards the Allianz Arena in 2025 or climb up the stairs to the upper tier, you don't feel like you're in a 20-year-old building. “You have to give big credit to our people who look after the stadium,” says Hoeneß. “Thanks to them, the Allianz Arena looks like it was opened yesterday.” Arena boss Muth returns the compliment to the club: “In FC Bayern we have a partner who provides us with the means to keep up with the times. Standing still is moving back.” The Arena follows the principle of permanent evolution: over the last 20 years, the capacity has been repeatedly increased, the area of the video screen has been expanded by over 100 percent, and the number of colours that can be displayed on the famous Arena shell has gone up from three to 16 million.

The genius yet simple structural design of the Arena and the vision of the management ensure that the stadium will always remain up to date. Bayern will still be playing at the Allianz Arena for another 20, 40, 100 years. Perhaps in the distant future it will be possible to broadcast the match live on the shell, perhaps the fans will come to the stadium by air taxi (or via beamer directly from Marienplatz). But one thing is certain: when the ball rolls around the red circle and the green rectangle and the heirs to Olise and Musiala storm towards the opposing goal, nothing will keep us in our seats.

This article appears in the May edition of members’ magazine ‘51’.