Daum vs Hoeneß - the legendary TV duel: on 20 May 1989 ZDF viewers could barely breathe. Just before the direct title showdown on Matchday 31 of the 1988/89 season, FC coach Christoph Daum, flanked by sporting director Udo Lattek, met Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, who arrived protected by manager Uli Hoeneß, on Aktuelles Sport-Studio. It became an hour of German sports television brilliance, a rain of poisoned arrows never since matched.
Presenter Bernd Heller immediately put Daum on the spot. Asked if he had already bought his plane ticket to Munich for the title celebration, the challenger shot back: “Yes, for Uli Hoeneß, so he can come to Cologne.” Hoeneß still smiled mildly - for the moment. Then he went on the attack, armed with a whole file of quotations.
As usual, the clever man from Ulm came meticulously prepared and cross-examined Daum one barb at a time, including Daum’s line that Jupp Heynckes could advertise sleeping pills. A second Daum quote - that after the win in Milan Heynckes briefly had one more brain cell with blood flow and was basically finished - pushed Hoeneß over the edge. Heynckes, in turn, accused Daum of inflaming the league for PR purposes and vowed never to forget the attack below the belt.
The studio erupted when Daum noted that Bayern were now apparently the authority on belt height. Daum boxed verbally. “You’re trying everything to knock me off my path,” he fired at Hoeneß, “but I can assure you: even you won’t manage it.” The viewers grew ecstatic and began singing “Take the leather trousers off Bayern.” Hoeneß still had an answer: “I won’t even need to try, because next Thursday your path is over.” Not quite. Köln did lose the direct duel with Bayern and the title race with it, but Daum stayed until 1990 and later returned for another two and a half years in 2006.