The Challenge: Ensuring a Safe Match Day for 75,000 Fans

As one of the world’s most successful football clubs, FC Bayern Munich owns and operates the Allianz Arena, a sprawling 75,000-seat stadium in Munich. On match days, the club manages a complex ecosystem of operations—from ticketing and broadcasting to stadium lighting and access control. Crucially, it is solely responsible for its own extensive digital infrastructure and the corresponding cybersecurity.

Many of the fan experiences are technology-driven, from the real-time updates on the scoreboard to announcements over the loudspeakers. Michael Fichtner, CIO of FC Bayern Munich, deeply understands the gravity of this responsibility: “It is not just about system availability, reputation or loss of revenue. Rather, it is about ensuring the safety and health of our visitors and preventing even a single person from being harmed.”

To guarantee safe and uninterrupted operations, FC Bayern Munich required a solution that could continuously identify and map every possible risk channel within its digital environment.

The Solution: Continuous Visibility Across a Critical Environment

FC Bayern Munich selected the XM Cyber exposure management platform, hosted on STACKIT’s sovereign European cloud, to detect and prioritize exposures across all connected systems. The platform continuously maps every potential attack path so that protective measures can be taken at an early stage.

Said Michael Fichtner, “XM Cyber is the only tool that shows me exactly which channels lead to our critical infrastructure. With this knowledge, our cyber experts can take the right measures to protect these channels even better and to sensitize and train the people who use these channels even better.”

This continuous, real-time visibility replaced the limitations of periodic checks and reactive fixes. The IT team now sees exactly how risks evolve day-to-day, allowing them to proactively close new gaps as they appear. This approach significantly strengthened FC Bayern Munich’s operational resilience without causing disruption to high-performance match-day systems.

Benefits and Outcomes: Clarity, Confidence, and Faster Response

XM Cyber provides FC Bayern Munich with a live, comprehensive view of its exposure landscape and enables experts to respond appropriately to changing conditions. This can lead to positive developments in risk management. CIO Michael Fichtner summed up the personal and organizational difference: “By using XM Cyber I sleep differently – because today we can recognize risks, before we often had a false sense of security. Today we recognize weak points and the resulting risks, and can address them more quickly and in a more targeted manner. However, you have to deal with these findings.”

The measurable result is stronger resilience, sharper risk awareness, and the confidence that every match can proceed safely under continuous, real-time protection.

Outlook: Security and Sovereignty as Shared Priorities

Security as Part of Social Responsibility

Fichtner regards the adoption of XM Cyber as a matter of principle, far beyond a simple technology deployment: “For us, XM Cyber is more than just a security tool. We see XM Cyber as part of our social responsibility – including being responsible for the safety of 75,000 people on a match day.”

This philosophy has successfully united leadership, operations, and IT around the single shared mission of safeguarding every facet of the match-day experience through continuous, intelligent defense. For FC Bayern Munich, robust cybersecurity is inseparable from its core duty of care to its fans.

Digital Sovereignty as a Club Priority

FC Bayern Munich’s comprehensive approach to cybersecurity also reflects a broader institutional commitment to control and independence. Running XM Cyber on the STACKIT cloud supports both goals, combining continuous, best-in-class protection with full data ownership under strict European standards. “Digital sovereignty is not a trend for us, but an obligation to our fans. As FC Bayern Munich, we cannot and will not compromise on this topic, which is so relevant to us, and therefore rely on a partner who, like us, stands for Champions League level.”

With XM Cyber, FC Bayern Munich has successfully transitioned its cybersecurity management to be continuous, transparent, and fully sovereign. The club maintains complete control of its data and systems, strengthens its digital foundation, and confidently moves its technology strategy forward. This powerful combination keeps both the fan experience and the wider organization secure, trusted, and ready for what comes next.