Manfred Müller (born 28 July 1947) is a German former

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 goalkeeper. Müller began his career with

Schwarz-Weiß Essen Schwarz-Weiß Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The side has its origins in the gymnastics club ''Essener Turnerbund'' founded in 1881. A football department was formed in January 1900 and this b ...

, before moving to

Wuppertaler SV Wuppertaler SV is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in the year of 1880 by the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cr ...

in 1971. Wuppertal immediately earned promotion to 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 ...

, and finished a surprising third in their first season in the top-flight. The title challenge was not to repeated, however, and the club struggled against relegation in 1973–74, and dropped down the following year. After Wuppertal's failure to bounce back in their first season, Müller left, moving south to in 1976 to join 1. FC Nürnberg. In his second season at Nürnberg, they won promotion, beating

Rot-Weiss Essen Rot-Weiss Essen is a German association football club based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club plays in the 3. Liga, at the Stadion an der Hafenstraße. The team won the DFB-Pokal in 1953, and the German championship in 1955. The latt ...

in a playoff, only to be relegated the following year. Müller was on the move again, and after a brief spell at

ESV Ingolstadt The ESV Ingolstadt is a general sports club in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, formed on 15 February 1919. Until 2004, the club operated a football department but after a merger with local rival MTV Ingolstadt to form FC Ingolstadt 04 the footballers left ...

, moved on to

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, ...

, ostensibly as cover for Walter Junghans. He did, though, manage a few decent runs in the first team, including an appearance in the 1982 European Cup Final, but eventually lost his place to the incoming

Jean-Marie Pfaff Jean-Marie Pfaff (born 4 December 1953) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent most of his professional career with Beveren and Bayern Munich. Pfaff was capped 64 times playing for Belgium, and parti ...

, before retiring in 1984. He returned to 1. FC Nürnberg as general manager, and made a surprise return to action in November 1986, starting a Bundesliga fixture because of an injury to

Andreas Köpke Andreas "Andy" Köpke (; born 12 March 1962) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After being selected for the Germany national team squads that won the 1990 FIFA World Cup and reached the quarter-finals of t ...

. He now runs a television production company. In 1983, he played for the Calgary Mustangs of the Canadian Professional Soccer League.

Honours

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German professional football division administered by the German Football Association#Western Germany, Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. ...

: 1971–72 *

: 1979–80, 1980–81 *

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 ...

: 1981–82, 1983–84 *

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 ...

: Runner-up 1981–82

References

External links

* 1947 births Living people Footballers from Essen German men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Wuppertaler SV players 1. FC Nürnberg players FC Ingolstadt 04 players FC Bayern Munich footballers German television journalists Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Television people from North Rhine-Westphalia Calgary Mustangs (CPSL) players Canadian Professional Soccer League (original) players West German men's footballers West German expatriate men's footballers West German expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada {{Germany-footy-goalkeeper-stub