It turned into a money pit! FC Bayern are reportedly clearing out the remnants of the Ancelotti era

FC Bayern Munich is apparently planning a refurbishment of its training ground on Säbener Straße. This is likely to see the removal of a legacy left by former manager Carlo Ancelotti.

An additional training ground is set to be built soon. It will be located on the site of what was once a fitness circuit requested by Carlo Ancelotti. Among other things, it includes a sprint hill with two different gradients, a balance beam, areas covered in sand and bark mulch, a basketball hoop, a football tennis court and a small equipment shed.

In total, the construction is said to have cost around one million euros during the 2016/17 season. Ancelotti’s fitness coach, Giovanni Mauri, was particularly keen on the project at the time. The Italian later made the headlines because, according to sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic, he smoked in the dressing room. Following Ancelotti’s dismissal in autumn 2017, the fitness circuit was practically never used again. The only exception, according to the Münchner Merkur/tz, was a rehabilitation session for Douglas Costa in March 2021.

FC Bayern: Is this just the start of a major overhaul?
As photos show, a high-ranking delegation from FC Bayern, armed with printed building plans, inspected the site on Monday. The delegation included Chairman Jan-Christian Dreesen, Sporting Director Christoph Freund, groundsman Peter Sauer, facilities manager Sebastian Faforke and Allianz Arena manager Jürgen Muth, who acts as the link between FC Bayern and architects, construction companies and service providers. Like the other pitches, the new playing surface is apparently also to be surrounded by a metre-high privacy screen.

This modification may well be just the start of a larger-scale refurbishment that has been in the planning for quite some time. Dreesen announced in a press release in 2024: “A new training centre is a key component in ensuring that FC Bayern can continue to attract international players and remain competitive at the very highest level.” Münchner Merkur/tz reported in December that preliminary planning permission had now been obtained for the project. Construction is expected to take three years and cost around 100 million euros, with work potentially starting as early as 2026.