THE VITALS:

Team: Bayern Munich

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2005-06 (Used for the 2005-06 Bundesliga season and the 2006 DFB-Pokal Final)

Name/Number: Santa Cruz #24

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This article remains in superb condition with the material little sign of wear, meanwhile, the Adidas embroidery, club crest and front sponsor are all immaculate. Sadly, the name and numbering print has sadly worn off, causing the only blemish to this piece.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Large

Pit to Pit Measurement: 23 inches

Shirt Length: 32.5 inches 

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaCool’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2005; this dimensions of this shirt would seemingly lend themselves better to someone who wears a size extra large shirt than a normal size large.

DESCRIPTION:

For the first time since the 1992-93 season, Adidas would reunite Bayern Munich with their ‘Die-Rotten’ roots; creating an all-red home shirt! This was likely to coincide with the club moving in to their new state of the art home stadium – the Allianz Arena and the club responded by successfully retaining both the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal titles in 2005-06! They would also bring back the use of a shield to house the clubs iconic crest in what was another ode to the clubs incredible history ahead of what was a new era for the pride of Bavaria. The throwbacks didn’t stop their either, Adidas would use a huge white polo neck and button up collar, and for the domestic competitions, the shirt would not use the traditional 3-stripes down the sleeves. In what was another bittersweet transition; this would be the first home shirt to be worn by Philipp Lahm in his return to the club, meanwhile, it would be the last worn by the departing Michael Ballack!

THE SEASON:

Felix Magath, in his debut season in charge of Bayern Munchen, would restore them to their position at the apex of German football; winning all 3 domestic titles on offer after the club’s trophyless 2003-04 season. In the close season, the club would bid farewell to stalwarts: Samuel Kuffour, Alexander Zickler, Robert Kovac and Thomas Linke while fresh blood arrived such as: Julio Dos Santos, Valerian Ismail and Philipp Lahm.

Bayern would begin the 2005-06 Bundesliga campaign with a fine 6 match winning tilt, and although they would lose to 2^nd place Hamburg in their next outing; the defeat proved to be nothing  more than an aberration as they went unbeaten in their next 16 games – winning 12 times! After the 5-2 win over Eintracht Frankfurt, they would hold a healthy 9 point at the top of the table with 11 games to play, and although they would win just 4 of those remaining games, it was still enough to win a 20^th league title!

While the season would begin by relinquishing the DFB-Ligapokal in July; they would be merciless in their defence of the DFB-Pokal seeing off: MSV 1919 Neuruppin, Erzgebirge Aue, Hamburg, Mainz, St Pauli and then Eintracht Frankfurt in the final on 29/04/2006 to win a 13^th German Cup title!      

The notable players that season were:

Paolo Guerrero, Roque Santa Cruz, Claudio Pizarro, Roy Makaay, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sebastian Deisler, Owen Hargreaves, Hasan Salihamidzic, Ali Karimi, Julio dos Santos, Jens Jeremies, Michael Ballack, Ze Roberto, Mehmet Scholl, Andreas Gorlitz, Philipp Lahm, Valerien Ismail, Bixente Lizarazu, Willy Sagnol, Oliver Khan, Michael Rensing