Vincent Kompany’s Bayern: A Quiet Start to the New Season
The World Cup is still echoing around the globe, but at Säbener Straße the reset button has already been pressed. FC Bayern opened their preparations for the 2026/27 season today, the first full pre-season under head coach Vincent Kompany, and it starts not with fireworks, but with data, rehab and a skeleton squad.
This is the modern game: before the balls really start flying, the laptops do.
A Thin but Telling First Group
With a large chunk of the squad only just emerging from World Cup duty, Kompany’s first sessions have a stripped-back feel. From the established first team, Sven Ulreich, Tom Bischof, João Palhinha, Bryan Zaragoza, Sacha Boey and Arijon Ibrahimović are already on the pitch and at his disposal.
Around them, another storyline unfolds: the slow return of the walking wounded. Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl, David Santos Daiber and Cassiano Kiala are being eased back into the group as part of their rehab programmes. No rush, no risks. Bayern know that what happens in July often decides who is still standing in April.
For Kompany, these early days offer something rare at a superclub: time and space with a smaller group, the chance to drill ideas without the noise of a full dressing room.
The Lab Coat Phase: Performance Diagnostics
Before tactics boards and training-ground duels take over, Bayern go into testing mode. Performance diagnostics come first, the annual medical snapshot that underpins everything that follows.
The bulk of the World Cup contingent, including the Germany internationals, are scheduled for their tests on 27 and 28 July. Only once those numbers are in will they filter back into the daily grind. From there, they head straight into altitude and intensity: the training camp at the Tegernsee.
It is a staggered return by design. Luis Díaz, Konrad Laimer and Josip Stanišić are set to link up with the squad just before Bayern board the plane for the Audi Summer Tour to Jeju and Hong Kong on 1 August. The club’s commercial machine and sporting ambitions meet again in Asia, but Kompany will have to juggle minutes, marketing and jet lag.
The bigger names, though, will wait a little longer.
Harry Kane, Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano are due to rejoin only after the squad returns from Asia. They will be joined by Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies, Ismael Saibari, Gnabry and Karl, who will continue their work in Munich rather than on the long-haul tour. It is a split pre-season: some in the shop window abroad, others sharpening quietly at home.
Tegernsee: Open Doors, Clear View
Between the medicals and the long flights lies a more traditional scene. From 27 to 30 July, Bayern set up camp at the Tegernsee. It is familiar territory, a place where the club often tries to fuse hard running with fresh mountain air and a slightly more relaxed atmosphere.
Every day, at 15:30 CEST, the training ground opens up. Supporters can watch Kompany at close range, see how he speaks to players, how he structures drills, how he handles the mix of veterans and youngsters. For many, this will be the first real glimpse of what a Kompany-era Bayern looks like when the cameras are not cutting away every few seconds.
The camp closes with a now traditional fixture. On 30 July, Bayern face FC Rottach-Egern in a friendly that has become something of a pre-season ritual. As usual, the match will be available via a free live stream on the club’s official channels, a soft launch for the season in front of a global audience.
No trophies are handed out in July. But patterns emerge, hierarchies start to form, and a coach’s voice either carries or it doesn’t. Kompany’s Bayern are only just assembling, piece by piece, test by test, flight by flight.
The real question is simple: by the time this carefully staggered pre-season ends, will they already look like his team?
