Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (; 3 November 1945 – 15 August 2021) was a German 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 ...

. A prolific striker, especially in and around the six-yard box, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalscorers and players in the history of the sport. With success at club and international level, he is one of nine players to have won the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

and the

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual association football, football award presented by French magazine ''France Football'' since 1956 Ballon d'Or, 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. Conceived ...

. At international level with

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 ...

, he scored 68 goals in 62 appearances, and at club level, in 15 years with

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, in which he scored 365 goals in 427

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 ...

matches, he became—and still is— record holder of that league. In 74 European club games he scored 65 goals. Averaging over a goal a game with West Germany, Müller was, as of 11 July 2021, 21st on the list of all time international goalscorers, despite having played fewer matches than every other player in the top 48. Among the top scorers, he has the third-highest goal-to-game ratio. He also had the highest ratio of 0.97 goals per game in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

, scoring 34 goals in 35 matches. Nicknamed "''Bomber der Nation''" ("the nation's Bomber") or simply "''Der Bomber''", Müller was named

European Footballer of the Year The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French magazine ''France Football'' since 1956 to honour the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. Conceived by sports writers Gabriel Hanot and Jac ...

in 1970. After a successful season at Bayern Munich, he scored ten goals at the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to ...

for West Germany where he received the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, before winning the

1970 Ballon d'Or The 1970 Ballon d'Or, given to the best football player in Europe as judged by a panel of sports journalists from UEFA member countries, was awarded to the West German forward Gerd Müller on 29 December 1970. There were 26 voters, from Austria, ...

. In 1972, he won the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

and was the top goalscorer, scoring two goals in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

. Two years later, he scored 4 goals in the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

, including the winning goal in the

. Müller held the all-time goal-scoring record in the World Cup with 14 goals for 32 years. In 1999, Müller was ranked ninth in the European Player of the Century election held by the

International Federation of Football History & Statistics The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

(IFFHS), and he was voted 13th in the IFFHS' World Player of the Century election. In 2004,

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

named Müller in the

FIFA 100 The FIFA 100 is a list compiled by Brazilian professional footballer Pelé featuring his choices of the "greatest living footballers" at the time of its release. The list was unveiled on 4 March 2004 during a gala ceremony at the Natural Histor ...

list of the world's greatest living players.

Club career

Bayern Munich

Born 3 November 1945, in

Nördlingen Nördlingen (; Swabian: ''Nearle'' or ''Nearleng'') is a town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, with a population of approximately 20,674. It is located approximately east of Stuttgart, and northwest of Munich. It was ...

, Germany, Müller began his football career at his hometown club

TSV 1861 Nördlingen TSV 1861 Nördlingen is a German football club in the town of Nördlingen, Schwaben, formed in 1861. It plays its home games at the Gerd-Müller-Stadion which has a capacity of 10,000 spectators. Apart from football, the club offers 14 other spo ...

youth ranks in 1958. Aged 18, Müller joined

in 1964, where he teamed up with future stars

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (; 11 September 1945 – 7 January 2024) was a German professional football player, manager, and official. Nicknamed ("the Emperor"), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and is one of nine p ...

and

Sepp Maier Josef Dieter "Sepp" Maier (; born 28 February 1944) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Bayern Munich and the West Germany national team. Regarded as one of football's greatest goalkeepers, he was nickn ...

. The club, which would go on to become the most successful German club in history, was then still in the Regionalliga Süd ''(Regional League South)'', which was one level below the

at the time. After one season, Bayern Munich advanced to the Bundesliga and started a long string of successes. With his club, Müller amassed titles during the 1960s and 1970s: he won the German Championship four times, the

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

four times, the

three consecutive years (the first West German team to win it; Müller scored in the 1974 final replay and the 1975 final), the Intercontinental Cup once, and the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

once. An opportunistic goal-scorer, Müller also became German top scorer seven times and European top scorer twice. Müller scored 365 goals in 427 Bundesliga matches for Bayern Munich, 53 goals over the second-most successful Bundesliga scorer,

Robert Lewandowski Robert Lewandowski (; born 21 August 1988) is a Polish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of a ...

, since 2022.

Club goal records

At his peak, Müller held the single-season Bundesliga record with 40 goals in season 1971–72, a record that would be held until Lewandowski scored 41 goals during the 2020–21 season, also for Bayern Munich. Then, Müller also held the record for most club goals scored in all European club competitions in one season for 40 years,

scoring SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

67 goals during the

1972–73 FC Bayern Munich season Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

, and 85 (72 for Munich, 13 West Germany) goals in total during 1972. However, that record was surpassed by

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

in Spain who scored 73 in the 2011/12 season, and 91 goals in the calendar year of 2012.

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

After his career in the Bundesliga, Müller went to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, where he joined the

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team establishe ...

(based in the Miami area) of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

(NASL) in 1979. He played three seasons with this team, scoring 38 goals, and reaching, but losing, the league final in 1980.

International career

Müller scored 68 goals in 62 games for

. He was Germany's all-time leading scorer for almost 40 years until surpassed by

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, ; born Mirosław Marian Klose; 9 June 1978) is a German professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who currently serves as head coach of 1. FC Nürnberg. A Forward (as ...

in 2014, though Klose required over double the number of caps to do so, scoring his 69th goal in his 132nd appearance. Müller's international career started in 1966 and ended on 7 July 1974 with victory at the

at his home stadium in Munich. He scored the winning goal for the 2–1 victory over

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the final. His four goals in that tournament and his ten goals at the

combined made him the all-time highest

goalscorer at the time with 14 goals. His record stood until the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

tournament, coincidentally held in Germany, when it was broken by Brazilian striker Ronaldo, who also required more matches than Müller to achieve his tally. Müller also participated in the 1972 European Championship, becoming top scorer with four goals (including two in the final) and winning the Championship with the West German team. Müller quit playing for West Germany after the 1974 FIFA World Cup triumph following an argument with the

German Football Association The German Football Association ( ; DFB ) is the governing body of Association football, football, futsal, and beach soccer in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and ...

(DFB) at the post-tournament celebration, when officials' wives were allowed to attend but players' wives were not.

Life after football

After Müller ended his career in 1981, he fell into a slump and suffered from

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

. However, his former companions at Bayern Munich convinced him to go through alcohol rehabilitation. When he emerged, they gave him a job as a coach at

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, currently playing in the Regionalliga B ...

. He held the position from 1992 until he retired in 2014 due to health problems. There is also a collection of apparel released by sporting giants

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

under the Gerd Müller name. It is part of the Adidas originals series. In July 2008, the Rieser Sportpark, in Nördlingen, where Müller had begun his career, was renamed the Gerd-Müller-Stadion in his honour. On 6 October 2015, it was announced that Müller was suffering from

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. He died on 15 August 2021 in a nursing home in

Wolfratshausen Wolfratshausen () is a town of the district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, located in Bavaria, Germany. The town had a population of 19,033 as of 31 December 2019. History The first mention of "Wolveradeshusun" appears in documents from the year ...

, aged 75.

Player profile

Style of play

In his book, '' Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football'', author David Winner writes, "Müller was short, squat, awkward-looking and not notably fast; he never fitted the conventional idea of a great footballer, but he had lethal acceleration over short distances, a remarkable aerial game, and uncanny goalscoring instincts. His short legs gave him a low center of gravity, so he could turn quickly and with perfect balance in spaces and at speeds that would cause other players to fall over. He also had a knack of scoring in unlikely situations." Müller used extreme acceleration, agility, and deceptive changes of pace to get to loose balls first, and bypass defenders. His teammate

has emphasized Müller's unusual speed: "His pace was incredible. In training I have played against him and I never had a chance." A prolific goalscorer, Müller was also known for his movement, coordination, intelligence, and clinical finishing inside the penalty area. He had the ability to score goals from awkward positions with almost any part of his body, not only with his head or either foot.

Legacy

Müller is widely considered to be one of the greatest strikers and goalscorers in the history of football. He is seen as the greatest " goal poacher" in history, with

Gary Lineker Gary Winston Lineker ( ; born 30 November 1960) is an English Sports broadcasting, sports broadcaster and former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Lineker is the only player t ...

calling him "the ultimate goal poacher". He is one of only two players, alongside

, to have won the

, the

and the

European Golden Shoe The European Golden Shoe, also known as the European Golden Boot, is an award that is presented each season to the player with the most points in league matches from the top division of a European national league. The trophy is a sculpture o ...

. After his death in 2021,

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

president Herbert Hainer declared that Müller was "the greatest striker there's ever been", while

stated that Müller was "the most important player in the history of Bayern Munich".

Career statistics

Club

International

Müller scored 68 goals in 62 games for West Germany. His 14 goals in FIFA World Cup tournaments were a record between 1974 and 2006. This score was bettered in 2006 by Brazil's Ronaldo, and eight years later by German Miroslav Klose, who also broke Müller's record for goals for Germany. However, Müller managed to score eight hat-tricks in his international career.

Honours

Bayern Munich * Regionalliga Süd: 1964–65 *

: 1968–69, 1971–72,

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

, 1973–74 *

: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1970–71 *

: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76 *

: 1966–67 * Intercontinental Cup:

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 ...

West Germany *

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

Individual *

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

; runner-up:

; third place:

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

Footballer of the Year (Germany) The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in West Germany from 1960 to 1990 and Germany since 1991. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title W ...

: 1967, 1969 * Voted best Player 40 Years Bundesliga 1963–2003 * '' kicker''

Team of the Season: 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73 * Eric Batty's World XI: 1969, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978 *''FUWO European Team of the Season'': 1970, 1972 *''Sport Ideal European XI'': 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974 * Bundesliga Top Scorer (Kicker-Torjägerkanone): 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978 *

: 1969–70, 1971–72 * FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1970 * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team:

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Selects World XI: 1971, 1972, 1973 * Worldwide Topscorer: 1970, 1972 * UEFA European Championship Top Scorer:

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 ...

* European Cup Top Scorer: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977 * Onze de Onze: 1976 *

FIFA Order of Merit The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to :association football. At FIFA's ce ...

: 1998 *

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

's Football Player of the Century: 10th (1999) * World Soccer The Greatest Players of the 20th century: 15th (1999) *

: 2004 *

Golden Foot The Golden Foot award is an international Association football, football award, given to players who stand out for their athletic achievements (both as individuals and team players) and for their personality. The award is only given to active playe ...

: 2007, as football legend *

Bravo Otto The Bravo Otto is a German accolade honoring excellence of performers in film, television and music. Established in 1957, the award is presented annually, with winners selected by the readers of ''Bravo'' magazine. The award is presented in ...

: Gold award: 1973, 1974; Silver award: 1975; Bronze award: 1972, 1976 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Legends * Bayern Munich All-time XI * IFFHS All-time Men's B Dream Team: 2021 *

All-time Europe Men's Dream Team: 2021

Notes

References

External links

Gerd Müller – Player profile
at FIFA.com *

at FIFA.com

at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Gerd 1945 births 2021 deaths 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1974 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players Men's association football forwards Ballon d'Or winners Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States FC Bayern Munich footballers FC Bayern Munich non-playing staff FIFA 100 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983) players Bundesliga players West German expatriate sportspeople in the United States German men's footballers Germany men's international footballers Germany men's under-21 international footballers Kicker-Torjägerkanone Award winners North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players People from Nördlingen Footballers from Swabia (Bavaria) Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany UEFA Euro 1972 players UEFA European Championship–winning players UEFA Champions League top scorers Deaths from dementia in Germany Deaths from Alzheimer's disease in Germany West German expatriate men's footballers West German men's footballers TSV 1861 Nördlingen players UEFA Champions League–winning players