Not everyday can one get some insight into the rivalries between teammates and the occasional banter that results of it. And not everyday do you find out that a teammate and your own boss have made a bet on your actual performance. Well, that’s exactly what former Bayern Munich striker Jürgen Klinsmann revealed to Abendzeitung in their podcast “Akte Säbener.”
It was the 1996/97 season, with Klinsmann having joined the Bavarians a year prior, when an internal rivalry between himself and teammate Lothar
Matthäus reached its peak. According to Klinsmann, Matthäus wagered a bet with then-manager Uli Hoeneß that Klinsmann would not be able to score 15 goals for the season.
The wager? 10,000 Deutsche Mark, something to which Hoeneß agreed. For Matthäus misfortune, Klinsmann was able to score his 15th goal of the season against Borussia Mönchengladbach on the very last match of the season.
A monumental fallout would then ensue. At the time, Matthäus was collaborating with Bild, where he wrote a column titled “Secret Diaries of Lothar Matthäus” (as captured by The Chicago Tribune). The bet was made public the very next day after the end of the season, when Bild published Matthäus’ column. The revelation was met with backlash by Bayern players, management, and fans alike, resulting in Matthäus having been stripped of the team’s captaincy.
This revelation of the perceived secret agreement can be labeled as the origin of the long-standing between Matthäus and Bayern honorary president, and as you might have noticed by now, the usual hostility of Matthäus towards Bayern Munich as a whole.
