GPS Executive Staff visit FC Bayern Munich

Waltham, 23rd, November 2014; 5 Members of the GPS Executive Staff have had the fantastic opportunity to visit FC Bayern Munich over the last three days. As part of the GPS and FC Bayern partnership, Joe Bradley (CEO) , Peter Bradley (Director of Coaching) , Paul Baber (General Manager GPS-Maine), Neil Holloway (General Manager GPS-New Jersey) and Phillip Mitchell (International Director), observed the FC Bayern male and female youth teams and watched FC Bayern defeat Hoffenheim 4-0 on Saturday 11/22. The highlight of the trip was the opportunity to meet FC Bayern Munich Head Coach Pep Guardiola and see the first team train on November 23rd.

Please see below a brief overview on the trip from DOC Peter Bradley. A full overview of the trip and how this will affect the development of GPS curriculum and players will follow later this week. For more photos please visit our Facebook and Twitter pages.


8.30am – Arrive at Munich airport.

1pm - Lunch at Sabener Strasse with Sebastian Dremmler and Andy Kufner. Communal Lunch area where all players and staff eat. Mr Rumenigge was there as well as a broad cross-section of the FC Bayern community. Lunch area looks out onto the training fields.

2.30pm - Meeting with FC Bayern Junior Team Department:

Wolfgang Dremmler - Head of Junior Team Dept

Michael Tarnat - Sports Director

Jurgen Jung - Head of Scouting

Sebastian Dremmler - Junior Team Coordinator

PP Presentation on the history, philosophy and structure of the FC Bayern Youth Team.

4.30pm - U16 team training session with Sebastian Dremmler. The U17 team were training also – and they had U9 and U10 group working. Also had their U17 and senior girls teams training later.

7pm - U23 Game – FC Bayern Munich vs TSV Buchbach

Day 2:

11am – U14 FC Bayern vs Unterhaching

The U14 boys play against an age group up and ended up losing 5-0 to a physical team. FC Bayern has much more possession but couldn’t take advantage of dominating this part of the game. They conceded 3 in the first 10 minutes. The parents on the sideline were almost anonymous – neither set of parents said a word during the entire game.

1pm – U12 FC Bayern VS Murnau

The U12 boys also played an age group up and lost 1-0. We watched the first half before heading to the Allianz Arena. They played 9v9 – modified a full-sized field by simply using cones – no hassle from either set of coaches with this. They also had one coach on each side of the field which was interesting – parents were back from the field.

3.30pm – FC Bayern vs Hoffenheim

Arrived at Allianz Arena at around 2.15pm. Went through the tunnel leading out onto the field and then into the press area and hospitality area. Unbelievable stadium. Place was packed, noisy and atmosphere was great throughout. Pep changed formation after 15mins – moved from 4 at the back to 3. Some great goals after a shaky start – Goetze and Robben’s goals were world class – won 4-0.

7pm – Had dinner at the Marienplatz area of Munich with Wolfgang and Sebastian Dremmler – excellent food and company.

Day 3:

11am - Non–public training session for 1st team. We were field side throughout – players who played full game yesterday didn’t participate. Everyone else plus some of the U23 and youth players did. Technical warm-up 6v2+3 – and then did some crossing and finishing and a 7v7 game. Got to meet Bastian Schweinsteiger and Pep. He talked to us for several minutes on the game the day before. Very cool.

1pm – U16 FC Bayern vs Aschaffenburg

Again the Bayern team were playing up an age and lost 2-0. The other team played 5-3-2 and scored in the first half and packed it in. Bayern again had lots of possession but couldn’t break through and conceded again on the counter in the second half.

3.30pm – Meeting with Sebastian Dremmler and Michael Tarnat on FC Bayern Philosophy.