Bayern Munich to repay 245,000 euros for breaking minimum wage rules

Bayern Munich have been forced to repay over 200,000 euros ($216,560) for failing to meet minimum wage requirements over a five-year period, Bavarian customs authorities announced on Thursday.

The club must also pay approximately 45,000 euros ($48,700) in unpaid social security contributions.

The investigation found Bayern underpaid employees from 2016 to 2021. 

The Munich customs office issued a statement on Thursday saying Bayern had employed workers, mostly in the club’s youth training centre, on limited hours contracts, but “the actual level of employment was far higher.”

“The club did not pay the minimum wage at the youth training centre it operates” the office said in a statement. 

In a press release on Thursday, Bayern apologised for the incident, saying “it was never FC Bayern Munich’s intention to withhold employees from their legitimate wages.”

Bayern said it has cooperated fully with the investigation and has taken steps to ensure similar incidents cannot happen again. 

“The club has cooperated with the process and the procedure is now closed” Munich customs spokesman Thomas Meister told German news service SID, an AFP subsidiary. 

With annual turnover in excess of 650 million euros ($700 million), Bayern is the largest sports club in Germany and the third highest-earning football club in the world, after Real Madrid and Barcelona. 

Bayern Munich’s men’s team won their 11th straight Bundesliga title in 2022-23, alongside their female counterparts, who have won two of the past three Frauen Bundesliga titles.