Bayern Munich’s 2000-01 UCL Winning Squad: Where are they now?

23rd May 2001: San Siro, Milan, Italy

Bayern Munich 1 - 1 Valencia (5-4)

Bayern Munich won their first European Cup since their treble success 1974 to 1976 after beating Valencia on penalties in Milan. This was also Valencia’s second Champions League final in a row and became the second team to lose back to back Champions League final matches. So, where are the Bayern Munich squad that lead the German champions to their fourth European success?

1) Oliver Kahn (#1)

Kahn is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and the best goalie in Germany and Bayern Munich history. He won 4 more Bundesliga titles as well as 4 DFB Pokal Cups and 1 Club World Cup. Kahn was man of the match for the game in Milan. He retired with Bayern at the end of the 2007-08 season. Internationally, Kahn was a World Cup runner up in 2002 in South Korea and Japan, winning the golden ball and being the only goalkeeper to win the golden ball at the World Cup. In 2006, he retired from the national team after a 3rd place finish in Germany for the 2006 World Cup. He was recently the CEO of Bayern Munich before getting sacked in May 2023.

2) Willy Sagnol (#2)

Sagnol is regarded as one of the best French defenders of his generation for he has a very decorative career in Munich. Since the victory in Milan, Sagnol won 4 Bundesliga titles and DFB Pokals and a Club World Cup. He started the match in Milan coming off in the 46th minute per substitution. He played for Bayern until 2009 which was the same year he retired. With France, Sagnol was a 2 time Confederations Cup winner in 2001 and 2003. He was part of the French squad that were runners-up in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, unfortunately losing to Italy in the final. He is currently the manager of the Georgian national football team.

3) Bixente Lizarazu (#3)

Lizarazu was a very skilled player for Bayern Munich and France. He played the full match as a left wing back and scored the fourth penalty in the shootout. He was a true icon for French football. Since 2001, Lizarazu won 3 Bundesliga titles, 3 DFB Pokals and 1 Club World Cup. He joined Marseille in the summer of 2004 before returning to Bayern in January 2005 and eventually retiring in 2006. With France, Lizarazu won the 1998 World Cup in front of their own supporters as well as the European Championship 2 years later in Netherlands and Belgium. He then won 2 more Confederations Cups in 2001 and 2003.

4) Samuel Kuffour (#4)

Kuffour was a Ghanaian defender who played the full game in Milan for the Bavarian giants. Since the final, Kuffour won 2 Bundesliga titles as well as 2 DFB Pokals and 1 Club World Cup. In 2005, he left Germany to play for Roma in Italy but spent one full season on loan with fellow Serie A side, Livorno in 2006 and Dutch giants, Ajax for the remainder of the 2007-08 season. In 2009, He joined Ghanaian side Asante Kotoko in April and retired later on in that year. Playing for Ghana, Kuffour won the 1991 U17 World Championship in Italy and won bronze at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

5) Patrik Andersson (#5)

Patrik was a Swedish defender who was the only player in Bayern Munich’s team to receive a yellow card which came in the 38th minute. He gave away a penalty to Valencia in the third minute which they ended up scoring and missed his penalty in the shootout. Since the final, he moved to Spain to play for Barcelona for 3 seasons but his time in Catalonia was plagued with injuries. In 2004, he moved back to Sweden to play for Malmö for one season where he won the Swedish League. He announced his retirement in August 2005. For Sweden, Andersson was part of the Swedish team that grabbed 3rd place in the 1994 World Cup in USA.

6) Mehmet Scholl (#7)

Mehmet was a starter in the Champions League final in Milan and played until the first few minutes of the second half in extra time. Since 2001, Scholl won 3 Bundesliga titles, 3 DFB Pokals and 1 Club World Cup and eventually retired in 2007. Internationally, Scholl won the 1996 European Championship in England with Germany. He retired from the national team in 2002. He was recently the Bayern Munich II coach back in 2013.

7) Giovane Élber (#9)

Élber was into his fourth year in Bavaria and was a starter in the Champions League final in Milan, coming off in the first half of extra time.That season, Élber was the club’s top-scorer in all leagues. Following the final, he won 1 Bundesliga, 1 DFB Pokal and 1 Club World Cup. He then moved to France for two season to play for Lyon. He won Ligue 1 in his first season for the club. He returned to Germany in 2005 to play for Borussia Möchengladbach. He left after one season and joined Cruzeiro and eventually retired in September 2006. Internationally, he was part of the Brazilian squad that won bronze at the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

8) Ciriaco Sforza (#10)

Sforza was a Swiss player who was an unused substitute for the final against Valencia. Following the final in Milan, Ciriaco won 1 Bundesliga and 1 Club World Cup with the Bavarian giants. In 2002, he returned to former club 1. FC Kaiserslautern for four seasons until his retirement in 2006. Playing for Switzerland, he appeared for his country in the World Cup in 1994 and the European Championship in 1996. He retired from the national team in 2001.

9) Stefan Effenberg (#11)

Stefan was a huge part of Bayern Munich’s road to Milan. He was the captain of the team and only one of four Bayern Munich captains to win the European Cup/Champions League. He started the match in Milan and scored Bayern’s fourth penalty in the shootout. Following the final, he won 1 Bundesliga and 1 Club World Cup the following season. In 2002, he joined Wolfsburg in the summer following his departure from Bayern after four years in his second spell in Bavaria. After his time in Wolfsburg, he joined Al Arabi in Qatar where he spent the rest of his career before his retirement in 2004. For Germany, Effenberg was part of Germany’s team who were runners-up in the 1992 UEFA European Championship in Sweden. He retired from Germany in 1998 after the World Cup in France.

10) Paulo Sergio (#13)

Sergio only played 12 minutes of the game in Milan, following his upcoming substitution for Mehmet Scholl. He took the first penalty in the shootout for Bayern and unfortunately missed the penalty. He won the Bundesliga and Club World Cup in the 2001-02 season before his upcoming move to Al-Wahda in UAE. He eventually moved back to Brazil to play for Bahia before retiring in 2003. Internationally, Sergio was part of the Brazilian squad that won the 1994 World Cup in USA.

11) Michael Tarnat (#18)

Tarnat was an unused substitute in the final in Milan. He then won two more Bundesliga titles as well as a DFB Pokal and Club World Cup. In the 2003, he left for Manchester City in England. He made 32 appearances and scored 3 times. After just one season, he rejoined German football and played for Hannover 96 for five seasons before retiring in 2009. Internationally, Tarnat participated with Germany in the 1998 World Cup in France, making the quarterfinals before a shock elimination to Croatia.

12) Carsten Jancker (#19)

Jancker was completing his fifth season in Bavaria coming up to the Champions League final. He came on in the second half as a substitute for Willy Sagnol and played all the way till the end of extra time. He didn’t make an appearance in the penalty shootout, though. He won 1 more Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and as well as his first Club World Cup win. He made a transfer in 2002 to Udinese in Italy. However, his time in Italy was not much of a success. Due to this, Jancker moved back to Germany to play for 1. FC Kaiserslautern where he regained his form. In 2006, he moved to China to play for Shanghai Shenhua and eventually moved back to Germany to play for SV Mattersburg where he played for 3 seasons before retiring in 2009. He is currently the manager of DSV Leoben, a team that plays in the Austrian second division.

13) Hasan Salihamidzic (#20)

Hasan started the match in Milan as an attacking midfielder and played the full match up until the penalty shootout where he scored the first penalty for Bayern. After success in Italy’s fashion capital, Salihamidzic won 3 more Bundesliga titles alongside 3 DFB Pokals and 1 Club World Cup. In 2007, he left Bayern Munich and joined Juventus on a four year deal before moving back to Germany to play for Wolfsburg for one year. However, a preseason injury lead to him to play only less the half of the season. He retired at the end of the 2011-12 season. Internationally, he played for Bosnia and Herzegovina, not making any major tournament. He was recently the sporting director of Bayern Munich up until May 2023.

14) Alexander Zickler (#21)

Zickler started the game in Milan as a substitute and came on in the first half of extra time. He took part in the penalty shootout successfully scoring his penalty and being the second player to score a penalty for Bayern Munich. After the Italian final, he spent four more season in Germany winning multiple trophies in the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal. He then made a move to Austria and played for RB Salzburg where he won three Austrian Bundesligas. After his time in Salzburg, he moved to Linz to play for LASK. He didn’t have any honors with the club. He only spent one season in Linz before playing for ASV Taxham in Austria as well. He retired in 2012. Internationally, he made his German debut in 1998 and retired in 2002. He wasn’t part of the German squad for the World Cup in 2002. He is currently the assistant manager for RB Leipzig in Germany.

15) Bernd Dreher (#22)

Dreher was the backup goalie for Bayern in the final and was an unused substitute for the German team. He played two more season with Bayern and won 1 Bundesliga, 1 DFB Pokal and 1 Club World Cup. He originally retired in 2003 and worked as the Bayern goalkeeper coach. He returned to football in 2005 for Bayern Munich and won 2 more Bundesliga titles and another DFB Pokal. He retired again in 2008, and became a full-time goalkeeping coach. He was recently the goalkeeper coach for Bulgarian side, Ludogorets between 2017 and 2018.

16) Owen Hargreaves (#23)

Owen was a rising talent for Bayern Munich, having been graduated from Bayern Munich’s academy back in 1999. Owen played the full match in Milan but didn’t make an appearance in the penalty shootout. After the final in Milan, he spent the next six seasons in Bavaria, winning 3 more Bundesliga titles and 3 more DFB Pokal as well as 1 Club World Cup. In 2007, he left Germany and joined Premier League giants Manchester United. In his time at Manchester, he also won another Champions League title in 2008, beating Chelsea in Moscow to lift the European Cup again. He also won the Premier League that same season. Man United won the league again in 2009 and 2011 but Owen didn’t receive a winners medal because of his lack of appearance for Manchester United due to injury. He joined big rivals, Manchester City in 2011 and won the Premier League in 2012, but didn’t receive a Premier League winners medal again due to injury. He retired in 2012 after Man City’s winning Premier League season. Internationally, Hargreaves played for England between 2001 and 2008, where he made 2 World Cup appearances and 1 Euros appearance.

17) Roque Santa Cruz (#24)

Santa Cruz was an unused substitute for the final against Valencia. He stayed at Bayern following the final for another six seasons where he won multiple league titles and DFB Pokals as well as one Club World Cup. He left Bayern in 2007 and joined Blackburn Rovers in England for 2 season and played well. His performances lead to a move to Manchester City in 2009, however, his performances in Manchester didn’t match his form in Blackburn. Due to this, Santa Cruz was loaned out back to Blackburn for the remainder of the 2010-11 season. He returned to City following his loan spell at Blackburn but was loaned out to Spain to play for Real Betis. After his loan spell, he returned to Spain again to play on loan for Malaga. Eventually, his move to Malaga was made permanent. After the 2013-14 season, he went to play in Mexico for Cruz Azul midway through the 2014-15 season. He left Mexico in 2016 and returned to Malaga on loan again. In 2016, he permanently left Cruz Azul and joined Olimpia in back home in Paraguay. He played for Olimpia until 2021. He currently plays for Libertad in Paraguay as well and is the only active player from Bayern’s Champions League winning squad. For Paraguay, he was part of the national team that were runners-up in the 2011 Copa America in Argentina.

18) Thomas Linke (#25)

The final player is Thomas Linke. He started the match in Milan and scored Bayern’s final penalty to give Bayern the advantage in the shootout. Linke won 2 Bundesliga titles, 2 DFB Pokals and 1 Club World Cup but eventually left Bayern Munich in 2005. He joined RB Salzburg that summer and spent two seasons there with former, Alexander Zickler and won Austrian Bundesliga in 2007. He returned to Germany to play for Bayern Munich II in the 3rd division. He retired one year later. Internationally, he played as a German national team and was part of the team that were runners-up in the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. His only international goal was against Saudi Arabia in the famous 8-0 thrashing.

19) Ottmar Hitzfeld (Manager)

Hitzfeld was regarded as one of the best managers of the 2000s century. He was one of the masterminds behind the Champions League success in 2001. Since the final in Milan, Hitzfeld spent seven more years in Bayern winning multiple Bundesliga and DFB Pokal titles as well as the Club World Cup in 2001, representing Europe. In 2008, he left Bayern Munich after two spells in the club after ending his first spell in 2004 and rejoined in 2007. After Bayern Munich, he was elected for Switzerland manager and spent the next six years with the Swiss national team, leading them to back to back World Cup appearances between 2010 and 2014. He left the national team after Switzerland’s Round of 16 defeat against eventual runners-up, Argentina.

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