Vincent Kompany Begins New Era at FC Bayern
Vincent Kompany ushers in a new chapter at FC Bayern today, as the German champions roll back into work and point everything towards the 2026/27 season.
There are no fireworks yet. No World Cup stars charging into tackles on day one. This is the quiet beginning: the hum of machinery, the whirr of treadmills, the thud of boots on indoor flooring. Performance diagnostics first, glamour much later.
Kompany’s first steps
While a large chunk of the squad is still recovering from World Cup duty, Kompany already has a core group at his disposal. Sven Ulreich, Tom Bischof, João Palhinha, Bryan Zaragoza, Sacha Boey and Arijon Ibrahimović reported in and are ready to work. They form the early spine of his first Bayern pre-season.
Alongside them, a different kind of comeback is under way. Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl, David Santos Daiber and Cassiano Kiala are being eased in, still on the rehab path, still monitored closely. Their sessions are about careful reintegration, not yet about intensity. For them, this is a step towards feeling like full first-team players again.
World Cup returnees on a staggered plan
The heavy international load has forced Bayern into a staggered schedule. The bulk of the World Cup participants, including the Germany internationals, will undergo performance tests on 27 and 28 July. Only then will they filter into the main group, heading individually to the training camp at the Tegernsee.
The timing matters. Kompany wants fresh legs in August, not burnt-out stars in October.
Luis Díaz, Konrad Laimer and Josip Stanišić are scheduled to join up before the Audi Summer Tour, which will take Bayern to Jeju and Hong Kong, with departure set for 1 August. That tour will offer the first real glimpse of Kompany’s ideas in match situations, but he will still be missing some of his headline names.
Harry Kane, Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano will only link up with the squad once Bayern return from Asia. The same applies to Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies, Ismael Saibari, Gnabry and Karl, who will complete their work in Munich rather than on the road. It is a jigsaw of arrivals, each piece dropped in with an eye on workload and long-term fitness.
Tegernsee camp opens the doors
From 27 to 30 July, Bayern decamp to the Tegernsee. It is a familiar setting, but the dynamic will be new under Kompany. Every afternoon at 15:30 CEST, the training ground opens up to the public. Supporters will be able to watch sessions, gauge the mood, see who catches the coach’s eye.
For some players, these days will be about convincing a new boss. For others, about simply getting through the running drills. For Kompany, it is his first real chance to set standards in front of Bayern’s fanbase.
The camp closes with a now traditional fixture. On 30 July, Bayern face FC Rottach-Egern in a friendly that has become a pre-season ritual. As usual, the game will be shown via free live stream on the club’s official channels, a low-key but revealing first look at how this team might start to move under fresh instructions.
The World Cup dust is still settling. The stars are returning in waves. Yet the work has already started, quietly and methodically, on the training pitches and in the test labs. Kompany’s Bayern is only just forming – but the clock on the new season has begun to tick.
