Gute Freunde - Der Aufstieg des FC Bayern - Season 1

Müller is seventeen years old and a welder when his father dies much too early. From then on, it is up to him to support the family financially. A great burden. But then an opportunity arises that opens up a new perspective for him: The highly talented amateur footballer receives an offer to play for the ambitious regional league club FC Bayern and earn an additional income there.

Maier's father works in psychiatry. Money is always tight. But little Sepp has great joy for life, coupled with a sense of humor that will help him navigate many things in life more easily than, for example, Müller. And he has a father who does everything for him; who even puts his own job at risk and ultimately loses it to fulfill Sepp's wish. From then on, the family struggles for four years to make ends meet.

Beckenbauer has no problems with fame whatsoever. He appears – and his manager Schwan quickly recognizes this – to be the ideal figure with marketable star potential. With him, finally, big money can be earned. He is a business model. Because Beckenbauer has an incomparable charisma. Nothing he does looks like work; everything is filled with lightness and elegance. Franz, he's got it – always with the attractive and tabloid-friendly wife Brigitte by his side.

Breitner represents the opposite of the elegant Beckenbauer. He is the only son of a civil servant. From day one, he aims to shake up the Beckenbauer monument; he becomes the challenger, the rebel. Breitner is accustomed to challenges, and he takes them on no matter what. A fighter, the kind the team hadn't seen before. He grew up under a strict father, has back problems, and poor eyesight, but he doesn't care. He'll just have to train harder than the others.

Uli Hoeneß continues to shake the romantic original idea of the 'eleven friends who stand by each other and go through thick and thin together.' Hoeneß thinks big, even bigger than Manager Schwan. The 'fastest striker in Europe' senses that there is a business hidden in football, one that has not yet fully tapped its potential. As the son of a butcher, he learned early on what it means to generate an optimal profit margin. This knowledge now serves him well as a football professional: He organizes autograph sessions, home stories, and advertising contracts, not only for himself but also for his teammates, especially Paul Breitner. This doesn't sit well with everyone, especially Franz Beckenbauer, who is bothered by his teammate's entrepreneurial ambition.

Under the leadership of national coach Helmut Schön, the five Super-Bayern players head to the World Cup in their own country. They are complemented by top players such as Schwarzenbeck, Vogts, Netzer, Overath, and many more. However, the favorite for the tournament is not West Germany, but the Netherlands with their "total football" and their superstar Johan Cruyff. Additionally, the atmosphere within the German team is far from good: the Bayern players are not on good terms with each other, and it has been discovered that Italians and Dutch players receive much higher bonuses than what the German Football Association (DFB) is willing to pay.