Bayern competing for relevance against Taylor Swift, not Leverkusen

Bayern Munich are not competing with other Bundesliga clubs for recognition and relevance but rather with other sports and pop stars, according to their Chief Information Officer (CIO), Michael Fichtner.

"We're not worried that a current Bayern fan will become a Bayer Leverkusen fan," Fichtner was quoted as saying at a congress on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digitalisation at their Allianz Arena home stadium.

"Our concern is that we will lose relevance and our fans will prefer to spend their time watching American football or [pop superstar] Taylor Swift."

Bayern are arguably Germany's biggest and best known club while Leverkusen ended their reign as Bundesliga champions after 11 years last season. The two teams play each other on Saturday.

Fichtner also said that AI can play a role in various aspects at the club but that they are only at the beginning of using it.

"AI can for example be used in scouting, or in the evaluation of injury frequencies, which was a major concern for us last season," Fichtner said.

He said AI could also help with pattern recognition and find out "whether a young player could become the new Thomas Müller," referring to Bayern's popular veteran forward.