Vincent Kompany Begins Pre-Season with Bayern Munich

The holiday is over in Munich. Vincent Kompany steps onto the training pitch as FC Bayern head coach for the first time today, launching preparations for the 2026/27 season and the next phase of a club trying to reassert its dominance.

This is not yet the full Bayern machine. The World Cup has scattered much of the squad around the globe, and those who went deep into the tournament will be eased back in over the coming weeks. But there is already a core on the grass, and that matters for a coach looking to imprint his ideas quickly.

Sven Ulreich, Tom Bischof, João Palhinha, Bryan Zaragoza, Sacha Boey and Arijon Ibrahimović are all on deck from day one. They form the early spine of Kompany’s sessions, a mix of experience, fresh faces and players desperate to stake a claim before the stars return.

A second group is working on a different timeline. Serge Gnabry, Lennart Karl, David Santos Daiber and Cassiano Kiala remain on rehab programmes and will be drip-fed back into full team training. For them, pre-season is less about tactics and more about trust in their bodies again.

Testing first, then Tegernsee

Before the balls really start flying, Bayern turn to numbers. Performance diagnostics open the programme, the lab work before the football. The bulk of the World Cup contingent, including the Germany internationals, are scheduled for testing on 27 and 28 July. From there, they will head individually to the training camp at Tegernsee rather than arriving as one big group.

The lake-side camp, running from 27 to 30 July, will be Kompany’s first real laboratory with a broader squad. Daily open training sessions at 15:30 CEST will give supporters an early look at how he wants this Bayern side to move, press and build. For the players, it is where fitness work collides with tactical detail.

Luis Díaz, Konrad Laimer and Josip Stanišić are set to slot in just before Bayern board the plane for the Audi Summer Tour to Jeju and Hong Kong, with departure fixed for 1 August. Their timing is crucial: early enough to absorb instructions, late enough to have had a proper breather after long seasons.

Harry Kane, Michael Olise and Dayot Upamecano will bide their time a little longer. They are due to rejoin the squad only after the team returns from Asia. Jamal Musiala, Alphonso Davies, Ismael Saibari, Gnabry and Karl will also come back into the fold at that stage, working in Munich rather than on tour as their schedules and recovery plans demand.

Tradition at Tegernsee, test against Rottach-Egern

The rhythm is familiar, even if the man in charge is new. Tegernsee has long been a Bayern pre-season staple, a place where the squad is put through punishing runs under Alpine skies and where young players try to catch a coach’s eye.

The camp closes on 30 July with a now traditional friendly against FC Rottach-Egern. The fixture has become part fitness test, part festival, and once again it will be shown live and free on FC Bayern’s official channels. It is usually one-way traffic on the scoreboard, but the real interest lies in movement, combinations and early hints of Kompany’s blueprint.

By the time the squad steps off the plane from Asia and the last World Cup returnees filter back into training, Bayern’s new era under Kompany will already have a shape. The question is how quickly that shape can harden into a team ready to carry the weight of a season in which excuses will be in short supply.