19 April 2026, Bavaria, Munich: Soccer, Men: Bundesliga, Bayern Munich - VfB Stuttgart, Matchday 30, Allianz Arena. Leon Goretzka (Bayern Munich) celebrates winning the German championship at the end of the match. Photo: Tom Weller/dpa (Photo by Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images) This might be a new tradition.

After dismantling VfB Stuttgart 4-2 to clinch its 35th Bundesliga title, Bayern Munich had a brief celebration on the pitch for fans, but there was a significant moment — the return of the cockatoo.If you do not remember the cockatoo, this is how Bayern Munich came into possession of the faux bird (as we detailed here): Boys will be boys…If you noticed an oddly placed cockatoo amid Bayern Munich’s championship celebration, well, there is a story behind that.It appears that the trinket was on display at the Käfer restaurant, where the team watched Bayer Leverkusen’s 2-2 draw with SC Freiburg last week. Of course, that tie clinched the Meisterschale for the Bavarians and the boys decided to engage in a little mischief:The cockatoo that featured in Bayern’s title celebration today was at the Käfer restaurant where the team celebrated the title last weekend.

The players apparently liked it so much that they took it as a mascot, but nobody wanted to say who ‘stole’ it• Musiala: “I’m seeing it for the first time”• Urbig: “It definitely wasn’t me who stole it”• Kompany: “We’ll give it back”The restaurant owner let Bayern Munich keep the bird and now it is constant for celebrations with the squad. Leon Goretzka handled the bird (aka Meister-Kakadu, which you can see on the championship t-shirts) after the match: 📸 Leon Goretzka with the cockatoo pic.twitter.com/6KK3Fvk69t— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) April 19, 2026This shows the closeness of unique humor of this group to be able to run back something so obscure from a year ago.

Hopefully, this will be one of those traditions that dies hard — it is always fun to have this kind of quirky behavior with a team. If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor… Join the conversation!Sign up for a user account and get:New, improved notifications system!Fewer adsCreate community postsComment on articles, community postsRec comments, community posts