The exact nature of Bayern Munich’s odd relationship with Swiss Super League side Grasshoppers Club Zürich is somewhat mysterious. Bayern’s partner in the Red&Gold Football endeavor, Los Angelese FC, are
the majority owners of the Swiss side, leading many people to label the relationship between Bayern and Grasshoppers to be like that of the likes of Blue Co-owned Chelsea FC and Strasbourg, or City Group-owned Manchester City and Girona FC. Two (or more) teams are owned by the same group but the bigger club gets all the resources while the smaller club has to do everything in their power to benefit the bigger club, not themselves.
And despite the less forward nature of this relationship and the lack of an ownership structure behind Bayern, Grasshoppers have regular been accepting loan deals from Bayern to develop their young stars ever since LAFC became majority owners in 2024. Grayson Dettoni, Nestory Irankunda, Lovro Zvonarek and Jonathan Asp Jensen have all gone to Zürich on loan during this time, despite Bayern and Grasshoppers never making any loan agreements before 2024. Clearly, LAFC’s ownership has played a big role in setting all of this up.
Having said that, unlike the City Group or Blue Co, a report from kicker, as captured by @iMiaSanMia, suggests that Grasshoppers get something out of this whole deal outside of the dubious honor of being really helpful for Bayern:
The collaboration between Grasshopper Club Zürich and FC Bayern extends beyond the sporting level – the Swiss club has a financial stake in the players they sign on loan from Bayern. In the event of a future sale, GC earns a percentage of the transfer fee, as was already the case with Nestory Irankunda, who was sold to Watford last summer.
Alain Sutter (GCZ sporting director & former Bayern player): “We have a financial stake in all of them. And that makes it incredibly attractive for us to loan players from Bayern.”
Loan deals for players like Asp Jensen and Zvonarek are part of GC’s long-term strategy. The club not only benefits from these talented players on the pitch, but also secures financial stakes for the future. That allows the club to remain competitive while simultaneously developing young talent – and also benefits Bayern by giving their talents first-team experience in a top division.
The first question one might ask is how much of a stake does Grasshoppers have? How much of the around 3 million euros Watford paid for Irankunda last summer went to Grasshoppers? Because it does matter.
But it does help make this strange partnership with Grasshoppers feel less like they are simply Bayern’s feeder team and more like there is a strategic agreement to benefit both sides. At least, a little less. It is a rather interesting topic of discussion, however. Would you rather, as a Bayern fan, see Grasshoppers get nothing out of these loan deals or prefer that Bayern are not going down the same route as many of these multi club ownerships?
