Bayern Batter Amateur Team in Empty Stadium: Club World Cup Opener Turns into Snooze Fest
Professional soccer team FC Bayern easily defeated an amateur squad in a sparsely populated stadium
Get ready for a thrilling ride - or not, as it turns out - as the 2025 Club World Cup kicked off with a snooze-inducing blowout in Cincinnati! Bayern Munich, the invincible German powerhouse, faced off against the semi-pros of Auckland City FC and left them in the dust with a 10-0 rout. But if you were hoping for a packed stadium to cheer on the action, you'd be sorely disappointed - the stands were almost empty, and it wasn't exactly by accident.
The Giants feasted on the hapless Davids: Bayern Munich triumphed in their first match of the Club World Cup, demonstrating their impressive - some might say, intimidating - form against the severely outmatched Auckland City FC from New Zealand. The final score read 10-0 in favor of the Munich team, with Kingsley Coman scoring the first goal of the tournament to start off Thomas Müller's farewell tour.
And let's not forget Conor Tracey, Auckland's valiant goalkeeper, who prevented an even more humiliating defeat. Two goals came Coman's way (6', 21'), and Sacha Boey, Michael Olise, Müller, and Jamal Musiala each added a goal for good measure. Musiala's hat-trick included a penalty in the 73rd minute - shame Auckland couldn't muster up the courage to challenge it! Müller, for his part, accomplished the feat of scoring in both a national and a club World Cup, now boasting 250 appearances for Bayern's pros.
Football Fiasco: Empty Stands and Cunning Tricks
Gabi Hein, in perhaps a bruised ego move, reported that there were only 21,152 spectators in the stands - but many empty seats were visible, particularly in the first half. It seems the FIFA struggled to sell tickets despite slashing prices, resorting to a nifty trick: they moved fans into the stands that were visible on camera to disguise the embarrassing emptiness. In the football-mad town of Seattle, entire blocks were sealed off, and fans were shifted to lower decks for the first game between local team Sounders and Botafogo.
But fear not, die-hard football fans - the games will only get tougher, with Bayern set to face Boca Juniors from Argentina on June 20th and Benfica Lisbon on June 24th. And if you're lucky, maybe you'll catch a glimpse of Vincent Kompany, Bayern's coach, wielding some strategy during the matches.
Bayern Takes the Game Seriously from the Get-go
Joining the team was new addition Jonathan Tah, who Bayern picked up for a cool 800,000 euros from Bayer Leverkusen to join the Club World Cup festivities. Leroy Sané and new signing Tom Bischof sat this one out, awaiting their chance on the bench. And in the second half, Kompany made several adjustments, with Lennart Karl making his professional debut and Musiala making his comeback since early April.
Kompany assured ahead of the match that the team had prepared just as they would for any other game, emphasizing their goal of ultimately taking home the trophy. And Joshua Kimmich was adamant: "We have to take this seriously. We've lost too many games against smaller opponents, so we should beware."
Boring but Brilliant Bayern
Despite Auckland City FC's best efforts - or lack thereof - Bayern started off strong, with Coman scoring twice in the first half. The Munich team occasionally slowed things down, but for the most part, they let the ball and the opposition run wild. FC Bayern Munich has previously won the Club World Cup four times, with Müller scoring twice in the final match.
Sources: ntv.de, dbe/sid
- FC Bayern Munich
- Club World Cup 2025
[[1]: https://www.ntv.de/sport/fussball/fcb/artikel204499862/Bayern-treats-amateur-team-Auckland.html][[2]: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/15253/12377038/bayern-munich-akinx-fc-club-world-cup-score-result][[3]: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/55289161]
The Commission has also been consulted on the draft directive regarding the Club World Cup, as the tournament faced criticism for the empty stands in Cincinnati during its opening game. With the football-mad town of Seattle witnessing the same issue, it seems that selling tickets for the Club World Cup has proven challenging.
