Manfred’s DHL Champions League odyssey with FC Bayern

Since DHL’s partnership with FC Bayern began over a year ago, one man has been a constant fixture when it comes to providing the team with logistics services for away matches in the Champions League. Meet DHL driver Manfred Höglauer.

Last year it was Rome. This week, it was London. The list of European cities that Manfred has visited to deliver equipment for FC Bayern Munich is steadily growing, and with each trip comes a new set of experiences for the veteran DHL delivery driver.

Things got started on a gray morning in Munich that saw Manfred and his driving partner, Andreas, loading all the gear FC Bayern would need for their away match in the group stage of the Champions League against Arsenal FC in London. The team needs everything from warm training clothes to uniforms for the match, and its Manfred’s job to get it to London well ahead of the players’ arrival.

In this case, that meant leaving Munich on the Friday before the Tuesday match against Arsenal. Bayern would play against Werder Bremen in the days between in the Bundesliga, and then travel straight to London from there. With the team’s valuable cargo in tow, Manfred set out to drive clear across Germany to his first destination – Rotterdam.

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“The drive there was fine,” said Manfred, “but the ferry from Rotterdam to England was something else.”

Manfred drove the van with FC Bayern’s gear onto the ferry at around 10 o’clock at night and settled in for the dark trip across the English Channel.

“We were happy to be able to grab a few hours of sleep,” he said.

Driving on the left

A few hours indeed – the ferry landed in England shortly before 4 in the morning, and the journey continued to London. For a driver whose normal route sees him making deliveries in Bavaria, Manfred said driving on the left side of the road in England “took a little getting used to.”

With the team’s equipment arriving ahead of the team as planned, Manfred had a little bit of time for sightseeing. He and Andreas took in Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, and the wax museum at Madame Tussauds.

Before long, the team arrived in London and it was back to work shuttling training equipment between the pitch and the team’s hotel for training sessions ahead of the match.

‘That’s football’

On game day, as nearly 60,000 fans packed into Emirates Stadium to see the clash of the two best teams in Group F of the Champions League, Manfred and Andreas were among them – rooting for FC Bayern, of course. It was a fitting reward for the DHL duo to be able to take in the game – after all, Manfred had interrupted his vacation to volunteer for the drive to London, demonstrating DHL’s “can-do” attitude.

“The atmosphere was one of a kind. We had great seats so we could really enjoy the match. The only fly in the ointment was the unfortunate final score.” (DHL Driver Manfred)

Indeed, for a through-and-through Bayern fan like Manfred, seeing Bayern lose 2-0 to Arsenal wasn’t ideal. But, Bayern are still top of their group, and as coach Pep Guardiola said after the match, “that’s football.”

The day following the match, Manfred and Andreas set off for Munich again, this time driving through the Eurotunnel and across France to get home. After a final stop at FC Bayern headquarters on Säbener Strasse, Manfred headed home to Rosenheim outside of Munich.

“It was quite an adventure for Andreas and me,” said Manfred looking back on the trip. “We gained some new experiences and were able to get new impressions of how DHL is perceived in other countries.”

Bayern’s next two matches in Group F of the Champions League are at home against Arsenal and Greek side Olympiacos. But there’s one final road trip at the end of the group stage when Bayern travel to Croatia to face Dinamo Zagreb. Follow Bayern’s progress along with Manfred and other Bayern fans around the globe right here on DHL InMotion!