Bayern München Are Increasingly Dropping Championship Stars on Their Kits
- Significance of Bayern's Championship Stars: FC Bayern München is the only Bundesliga club allowed to display five championship stars above its crest, signifying their unparalleled domestic dominance according to DFL guidelines that award stars based on the number of titles won since 1963.
- Evolving Approach to Star Placement: While championship stars were an obligatory feature on all Bayern kits for over 15 years, Adidas and the club have recently adopted a more flexible strategy, increasingly omitting them from certain jersey designs.
- Reasons for Selective Star Omission: This shift, which began in the 21-22 season, is driven by factors such as manufacturing costs, the desire for distinct aesthetics, historical tributes, or sleek designs, resulting in stars often being absent from away and third kits, while the home jersey consistently features the full five-star insignia.
FC Bayern München's iconic championship stars have been a feature of the German powerhorse's kits since the early 2000s. Under official DFL guidelines, clubs in the Bundesliga are awarded stars based on titles won since the league's inception in 1963: one star for three titles, two for five, three for ten, four for twenty, and five for thirty. As the undisputed dominant force in Germany, Bayern stands alone as the only club in Bundesliga history permitted to display five golden stars above its crest.
Only the Bayern München 26-27 home kit features stars
While the five stars represent supreme domestic dominance, the way Adidas and Bayern apply them across their jersey line-ups has evolved considerably over recent years. For more than 15 years, stars were an obligatory fixture on every single kit, regardless of colorway. However, Adidas and Bayern München are today applying a much more flexible approach regarding star placement.
Evolution of Bayern's Championship Stars
The shift began in the 21-22 season when Bayern secured their 30th Bundesliga title. Due to manufacturing lead times, Adidas only added the newly earned fifth star to the 21-22 home kit in time for launch. Instead of also (and expensively) applying stars on the away and third kits, the club chose to remove the stars entirely from those shirts. While all three kits briefly reunited with the complete five-star set for the 22-23 campaign, that transitional season opened the door to a permanent philosophical change.
Since then, Adidas and Bayern have consistently omitted stars whenever a kit calls for a distinct aesthetic or historical tribute. The 23-24 third kit reintroduced a vintage club badge without stars, a pattern repeated on the 24-25 and 25-26 third shirts alongside the classic Adidas Trefoil. Non-retro alternate designs, such as the 24-25 away shirt, also abandoned stars to maintain a sleek, uninterrupted look on expressive, graphic-heavy patterns.
This deliberate strategy continues fully in the 26-27 season. The Bayern 26-27 away kit combines the Trefoil with the pre-2002 'FC Bayern München e.V.' retro crest, leaving the area above the badge clean, while the 26-27 third kit uses a starless, streamlined crest integrated into a milestone tribute pattern.
The traditional home jersey remains the sacred canvas for the full five-star insignia.
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