Bennie Muller (born 14 August 1938) is a Dutch former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

and the Netherlands national team.

Early life

Muller was born in the Jewish Quarter of Amsterdam-East. His grandfather was a fruit seller named Levi Sluiter. His mother was incarcerated in

Westerbork transit camp Camp Westerbork ( nl, Kamp Westerbork, german: Durchgangslager Westerbork, Drents: ''Börker Kamp; Kamp Westerbörk'' ), also known as Westerbork transit camp, was a Nazi transit camp in the province of Drenthe in the Northeastern Netherlands, d ...

during World War 2. Approximately 200 members of Muller's extended family were killed in

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

Career

Muller played club football for

beginning in 1958, and was its captain. He also appeared for the Netherlands national team on 43 occasions, and was its captain.

Personal life

Muller is Jewish, and was one of only five Jewish players to have played for Ajax – the others being

Eddy Hamel Eddy Hamel (October 21, 1902 – April 30, 1943) was an American soccer player for Dutch club AFC Ajax. Hamel was the first Jewish player for Ajax. He was killed by the Nazis in 1943 in Auschwitz concentration camp. Background Hamel was born in ...

Johnny Roeg Nathan "Johnny" Roeg (6 January 1910 – 21 October 2003) was a Dutch footballer who played as a striker for Ajax. Roeg was Jewish, and was one of only five Jewish players to have played for Ajax - the others being Eddy Hamel, Bennie Muller, Sja ...

Sjaak Swart Jesaia Swart (born 3 July 1938), commonly known as Sjaak Swart, is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a winger for Ajax. During his career at Ajax, he amassed a total of almost 600 matches, a record for the club. Biography Swa ...

, and

Daniël de Ridder Daniël Robin Frederick de Ridder (born 6 March 1984) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He played as a winger operating either on the right or left side but would occasionally play a more advanced role. He represented Ajax, Celta Vigo, ...

. Muller married on 27 September 1961. He has a daughter, Petra,Aankomst Ajax op Schiphol, Bennie Muller werd op Schiph begroet door zijn dochtertje Petra
Nationaal Archief 2010–2013 and a son

Danny Danny is a masculine given name. It is related to the male name Daniel. It may refer to: People * Danny Altmann, British immunologist *Danny Antonucci, Canadian animator, director, producer, and writer *Danny Baker (born 1957), English journal ...

, who is also a professional footballer. Muller later owned a cigar shop near

Amsterdam Centraal station Amsterdam Centraal Station ( nl, italic=no, Station Amsterdam Centraal ; Railway stations in the Netherlands, abbreviation: Asd) is the largest railway station in Amsterdam, North Holland, the Netherlands. A major international Rail transport, r ...

References

1938 births Living people Dutch footballers Dutch people of Jewish descent Netherlands international footballers Jewish Dutch sportspeople Jewish footballers AFC Ajax players Eredivisie players Footballers from Amsterdam Association football midfielders {{Netherlands-footy-midfielder-stub

Early life

Career

Personal life

See also

References