Heinrich "Wudi" Müller (born May 13, 1909 – April 5, 2000) was an Austrian football player and coach. In the early 1930s he was an albeit minor part of Austria's all conquering

Wunderteam ''Wunderteam'' (; ''Wonder Team'') was the name given to the Austria national football team of the 1930s. Led by manager Hugo Meisl, the team had an unbeaten streak of 14 games between April 1931 and December 1932. The style of the team focused on q ...

. As coach he defined the post-World War II glory period of Austria Wien.

Playing career

Club career

The trained shoemaker played from 1921 to 1935 for

Wiener AC Wiener Athletiksport Club, also known as Wiener AC or WAC, is an Austrian sports club in Vienna. It is particularly noted for its hockey team, which was established in 1900. Its football team won the Austrian Championships and was Runner-up in ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. With this club he won the 1931 Cup of Austria and made it all the way to the final of the

Mitropa Cup The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hunga ...

, both matches of which were lost against local rivals

First Vienna FC First Vienna FC is an Austrian association football club based in the Döbling district of Vienna. Established on 22 August 1894, it is the country's oldest team and has played a notable role in the history of the game there. It is familiarly ...

. In 1935 the offensive midfielder moved to MTK Hungaria in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

where he won, alongside players like

Gusztáv Sebes Gusztáv Sebes (born Gusztáv Scharenpeck; 22 January 1906 – 30 January 1986) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. With the title of Deputy Minister of Sport, he coached the Hungarian team known as the ''Mighty Magyars'' in the 1950s. A ...

and

Ferenc Sas Ferenc Sas (16 August 1915 – 3 September 1988), born as Ferenc Sohn, in Argentina known as Francisco "Sas" Sohn, was a Hungarian football player. With the Hungary he played in the final of the World Cup 1938. With Hungária MTK FC and CA Bo ...

the Hungarian championships of 1936 and 1937. In June 1940 Müller returned to Vienna and joined Austria Wien, initially as a player.

International career

In the early 1930s he was called five times to play for the

Austria national football team The Austria national football team (german: Österreichische Fußballnationalmannschaft) represents Austria in men's international football competition and it is controlled by the Austrian Football Association (German: Österreichischer Fußbal ...

, for which he scored four goals. This includes two nominations for the famed

, where he played under the management team

Hugo Meisl Hugo Meisl (16 November 1881 – 17 February 1937), brother of the journalist Willy Meisl, was the multi-lingual football coach of the famous Austrian ' Wunderteam' of the early 1930s, as well as a referee. Background Meisl was born to a Jewish ...

and

Jimmy Hogan James Hogan (16 October 1882 – 30 January 1974) was an English football player and Manager (association football), coach of Irish descent. He enjoyed some success as a footballer, reaching an FA Cup semi-finals, FA Cup semi-final with Fulham F ...

alongside

Matthias Sindelar Matthias Sindelar (, cz, Matěj Šindelář; 10 February 1903 – 23 January 1939) was an Austrian professional footballer. Regarded as one of the greatest Austrian players of all time, Sindelar played for Austria Wien and the Austria national ...

. In these matches, Austria defeated

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

2–1 in March 1932 and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

3–2 in October 1932

Managerial career

As coach his name is primarily associated with FK Austria. Over three terms, which span the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, he altogether was in charge there for about 12 years. To date he remains the longest serving coach of ''Austria''. Most successful was his first period which reached from 1945 to 1954. Besides the three championships in the years 1949, 1950 and 1953 he also led the club to success in the Austrian Cup finals of 1948 and 1949. In the first three years at the helm of Austria he also played for league matches for the club. In 1951, ''Austria'' undertook a nowadays legendary trip to South America. There the team around players like

Ernst Ocwirk Ernst Ocwirk (7 March 1926 – 23 January 1980) was an Austrian football player and coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest Austrian footballers of all time. He spent the majority of his playing and coaching years between Austria and Ital ...

, Ernst Stojaspal and Lukas "Harry" Aurednik defeated in the huge Maracanã Stadium of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

the

Club Nacional Club Nacional is a Paraguayan professional football club based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1904, the club currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División, and holds its home games at Estadio Arsenio Erico. In ...

from Montevideo,

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, which had six

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

winners from the tournament in the previous year in their line-up, with 4-0 Beginning with April 1953 Austrian players aged 30 and beyond became exempt from the ban to play abroad. Especially after the World Cup of 1954, this led to a hefty blood-letting for Austrian football. The club ''Austria'' itself lost several of its aces, most of the moving to France, thus the remarkable ''Austria'' of that era becoming part of the past. Also "Wudi" Müller chose to leave. Thus, in 1956 he could be found leading the

Netherlands national football team The Netherlands national football team ( nl, Nederlands voetbalelftal or simply ''Het Nederlands elftal'') has represented the Netherlands in international men's football matches since 1905. The men's national team is controlled by the Royal ...

to a 3–2 win in Switzerland. In the later 1950s and early 1960s he could be found at the helm of the Netherlands first division side Willem II in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

. In December 1964, after a stint with

AEK A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelf ...

in Athens, he returned to ''Austria'' trying to fill the gap left behind when Edi Frühwirt left the club. With Robert Sara, who should remain with the club for 21 years, Thomas Parits, and Hans "Buffy" Ettmayer the club had a number of promising talents in their roster. Nevertheless, the club ended up seventh in the league and

was placed as "sporting director" alongside Müller and replaced him fully by the end of the year. In the 1971–72 season "Wudi" Müller made another comeback on the coaching bench of ''Austria'', but this remained a venture as hapless as his previous one.

Statistical summary

Record as national coach of the Netherlands

External links

Player profileManager profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Heinrich 1909 births 2000 deaths Footballers from Vienna Association football midfielders Austrian footballers Austria international footballers MTK Budapest FC players Austrian football managers FK Austria Wien managers Netherlands national football team managers AEK Athens F.C. managers