Why Bayern Munich will win the 2026/27 UEFA Champions League
Bayern Munich are among the favourites to win this season’s UEFA Champions League. The Bundesliga takes a look at some of the reasons why…
Follow Bayern's opener against Bodø/Glimt on Thursday
Harry Kane, goal machine
Goals win games and Harry Kane scores goals. Lots of them.
The England captain has cemented his reputation as one of world football’s best centre-forwards since arriving at Bayern from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer of 2023, scoring 148 goals and counting across all competitions.
Thirty-three of those have come in the Champions League. He top scored in his first European campaign with Bayern, sharing the accolade with Kylian Mbappé on eight goals, and although he has been pipped to that individual honour in the two seasons since, hauls of 11 then 14 show Kane is anything but slowing down.
A finalist with Spurs in 2019, Kane has since reached two semi-finals, with Bayern losing to eventual winners Real Madrid in 2024 and Paris Saint-Germain last season. He is ready to go at least one better.
“Yes, we're really close. I think last year was the finest of margins – to go out to a team who has won the Champions League back to back, there’s no shame in that,” he told The Mirror ahead of Bayern’s league phase meeting with Bodø/Glimt. "We're coming into this season now saying that it needs to be our year. We need to find a way to get it done.”
Kane also boasts eight assists for Bayern in the competition. With a direct goal-involvement every 79 minutes he has played, it wouldn’t be safe to bet against Bayern with Kane in their ranks.
Michael Olise for the Ballon d’Or?
Kane is among the favourites to win October’s Ballon d’Or after his 73-goal season in 2025/26, but he’s not the only Bayern player in the running with Michael Olise also in contention.
Whether or not Olise takes October’s prize, he remains a terrifying proposition for opposition defences. The London-born France winger had 22 goals and 26 assists across all competitions last season, and has been quickest out of the gate this, with three and one in each column already.
Olise’s elegance on the ball and reluctance to celebrate or seek out the limelight mask a player with a deadly final touch, with defenders unable to contend with him cutting inside from the right onto his favoured left foot before finding a corner of the goal or a better-placed teammate.
“He is a player for today, and for tomorrow. He has that elegance, that vision...” Mbappé, his France colleague, told l’Equipe. “Michael saves his words. But his feet speak for him. Just accept him as he is. He will never change.”
Olise doesn’t need to change. With him in their side, Bayern will always have a chance.
Summer business
Whilst Kane and Olise are among Bayern’s brightest stars, the Champions League campaign can be an exacting toll across a season – at least 15 games are required to win it – and having a deep squad could prove key.
Luckily for Bayern, they strengthened this summer.
Ismael Saibari was the headline-grabbing arrival, joining from PSV Eindhoven via a three-goal showing at the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico, where he helped Morocco reach the quarter-finals.
A direct player with a wicked shot, his versatility helps him simultaneously replace Nicolas Jackson as Kane’s understudy up front, as well as assuaging the potential loss of Jamal Musiala due to medical complications.
Nathaniel Brown arrived for a similar, significant fee, the left-back joining from Eintracht Frankfurt. Like his predecessor Raphaël Guerreiro, he can also play in multiple positions, able to cover at right-back and No.10, from where he made his debut and scored in the 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Franz Beckenbauer Supercup.
Bara Sapoko Ndiaye adds to a central midfield which has lost Leon Goretzka to Aston Villa but still boasts captain Joshua Kimmich and the ever-improving Aleksandar Pavlović and Tom Bischof.
European pedigree
Only Real Madrid (15) and AC Milan (7) have won more Champions League titles than Bayern (6), with only the former boasting more final appearances – 18 to Bayern’s 11.
Their six triumphs are twice as many as Manchester United have won, and six more than any of Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Real Betis, Bodø/Glimt, Lille, Slavia Prague or Viking, who they have also drawn in the league phase.
Arsenal lost last year’s final and won’t be taken lightly, but for United it is a return to European football’s top table after a three-year hiatus. In contrast, Bayern have made at least the quarter-final in every season since beating PSG in the 2020 showpiece, losing the two aforementioned semi-finals to the ultimate winner that season.
Knock-out stage progression would seem to be all but assured.
“The targets at Bayern are always set as high as possible, which means winning the Bundesliga, winning the cup, winning the Champions League and perhaps even winning every single match," head coach Vincent Kompany said this summer.
The recent draw with Schalke means winning every match is out of the question, but he rested Kane and Olise that day, and with that pair firing, greater squad depth, and the weight of history on their side, Bayern have every chance of going all the way this year.
