Dieter Müller (

né The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Kaster; 1 April 1954) is a German 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 lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He achieved his greatest success playing for

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

in the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

in the late 1970s, becoming the topscorer of the Bundesliga for two consecutive seasons and winning the domestic double in the 1978 season. Müller scored 177 goals in 303 games in the German league, including six goals in one game in August 1977, a record that still stands. With his 231 goals in 326 games in all tournaments for 1. FC Köln, he remains the club's all time topscorer. He also represented

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

at two major tournaments, becoming the

UEFA Euro 1976 The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA and the first and only tournament that was held in a socialist state. The ...

tournament top scorer and being the only player to score a hattrick in the knockout stage after coming on from the bench. He also scored two goals at the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

Career

Müller played and scored in the

final, which West Germany lost on penalties to Czechoslovakia. He was again in the national team in the

, though the campaign ended in disappointment when West Germany, the defending champions, did not qualify for the tournament's final. In his spell with

he set a record for the most goals scored by a player in a single

match. On 17 August 1977, he tallied six goals (scoring in the 12th, 23rd, 32nd, 52nd, 73rd and in the 85th minute) in Köln's 7–2 victory over

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

in front of a crowd of 19,000 at Köln's

Müngersdorfer Stadion RheinEnergieStadion, formerly Müngersdorfer Stadion () or Müngersdorfer Stadium, is a German football stadium in Cologne. It was built on the site of the two previous Müngersdorfer stadiums. It is the home of the local 2. Bundesliga team, 1 ...

. However, since television cameramen were on strike on that day, there are no known film of Müller's goals. He was crowned Bundesliga topscorer that season (24 goals in 33 games), as he had the season before (34 goals in 34 appearances). After he left Köln, he played for several seasons in France and Switzerland, before returning to West Germany. Müller is the son of Heinz Kaster, who played as a defender for

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

and

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Fussball-Club Kickers, commonly known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left establis ...

in the early 1950s. The striker had already been a schoolboy international, when his stepfather's adoption turned his surname into Müller.

Personal life

Müller's son Alexander, aged 16, died of a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

in 1997. Müller suffered a severe heart attack on 5 October 2012 and fell into a five-day coma.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

1. FC Köln *

: 1977–78 *

DFB Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English, is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundes ...

: 1976–77, 1977–78 Bordeaux *

French Division 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de Football Professio ...

: 1983–84, 1984–85 Individual *''Sport Ideal European XI'': 1976 * Bundesliga top scorer: 1976–77, 1977–78 * DFB-Pokal top scorer: 1976–77, 1977–78 * UEFA European Championship top scorer:

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament At the end of each UEFA European Championship tournament, several awards are attributed to the players and teams which have distinguished from the rest, in different aspects of the game. Awards There are currently five post-tournament awards, a ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Dieter 1954 births Living people West German men's footballers German men's footballers Men's association football forwards Germany men's international footballers Germany men's B international footballers UEFA Euro 1976 players 1978 FIFA World Cup players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Ligue 1 players Swiss Super League players Kickers Offenbach players 1. FC Köln players VfB Stuttgart players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Grasshopper Club Zurich players 1. FC Saarbrücken players German football chairmen and investors Footballers from Offenbach am Main West German expatriate men's footballers West German expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland West German expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France