How Niklas Sule fooled Bayern Munich with his weight

"Jupp Heynckes was a tremendous mentor to me. I played under him, but he also addressed the issue of weight. We had weigh-ins at Bayern on Thursdays. I didn't eat anything all Wednesday, I fasted the whole day. And every evening at home, I went to the sauna - wearing a raincoat. The next day, I weighed two and a half kilos less. That's extreme."

"After a day without food and in the sauna wearing a raincoat, I had to go up three flights of stairs to our bedroom. I opened the window, leaned out, and breathed for ten minutes because I thought I was going to faint. Then I played at the weekend, we won, and Heynckes said to me: 'See? you played much better now.' But the reality is that my weight was exactly the same as before."

"At his best, Süle was a dynamic presence on the backline whose height, speed and skill gave him the ability to be the most hulking and physically imposing right-back of all-time when he was asked to play the position. As a center-back, he was a clearing machine, who was strong enough to battle big strikers, and fast enough to frustrate scorers with elite speed."

During his retirement announcement on the Spielmacher podcast, Niklas Süle revealed his unconventional approach to Bayern Munich's Thursday weigh-ins under manager Jupp Heynckes. Süle would fast all day Wednesday and spend evenings in the sauna wearing a raincoat, losing approximately 2.5 kilograms. After climbing stairs to his bedroom, he would lean out the window struggling to breathe, fearing fainting. By the following match day, his weight returned to normal levels. Despite Heynckes attributing improved performance to weight loss, Süle's actual weight remained unchanged. This weekly extreme weight-cutting practice resembled boxer or MMA weight cuts. Throughout his career, Süle's fitness remained a focal point, though at his peak he demonstrated exceptional athleticism as a defender with impressive speed and physical presence.

Read at Bavarian Football Works