Legendary German Footballer, Gerd Muller, Passes on

Scorer of West Germany’s winning goal against Holland in the 1974 FIFA World Cup final, Gerd Müller has died aged 75 years on Sunday.

Born Gerhard Müller in Nördlingen, he was a legendary striker who scored 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany.

He also helped West Germany win the 1972 Euros title and was also Bayern Munich’s all-time record goalscorer with 563 goals in 605 Bundesliga appearances.

Müller began his career at TSV Nördlingen, scoring well over a goal a game in Germany’s lower divisions before joining Bayern in 1964, when the club was in the second tier. Thirty-three league goals in his first season helped restore the club to the Bundesliga, and within four years Bayern were German champions, a title they won four times in five years. More impressive still was their stretch of three European Cup wins in a row, from 1974-76, to which Müller contributed 18 goals including three in two finals.

In his 15 years at Bayern, Muller was the Bundesliga’s top scorer seven times, the German football of the year twice and the recipient of the Ballon d’Or once, in 1970. He left in 1979 to follow the likes of Pelé and George Best to the North American Soccer League, where he played three seasons for Fort Lauderdale Strikers, before returning to Bayern as a coach. He remains the Bundesliga’s all-time top scorer.

Müller’s feats on the international stage were no less impressive. After making his debut in 1966, he quickly racked up goals at a rate of over one a game, including 10 at the 1970 World Cup and eight hat-tricks. His last appearance for Germany was the 1974 World Cup final, held at Bayern’s Olympiastadion, where he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 win to make his country world champions. His record of 68 international goals for Germany stood for four decades, until Miroslav Klose surpassed it in 2014 (though Klose took 132 games to Müller’s 62).

The former footballer was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2015 when he was a coach of Bayern’s second team. Earlier, he suffered from alcoholism when his playing days ended in 1982.

In tribute to Müller on Sunday moment after the announcement of his demise, Bayern Munich President, Herbert Hainer, said in statement: “Today is a sad, dark day for FC Bayern and all its fans. Gerd Müller was the greatest striker there’s ever been, and a fine person and character of world football. We’re all united in deep mourning with his wife Uschi as well as his family. FC Bayern wouldn’t be the club we all love today without Gerd Müller. His name and memory will live on forever.”

Similarly, Bayern CEO, Oliver Kahn also paid tribute: “The news of Gerd Müller’s death deeply saddens us all. He’s one of the greatest legends in the history of FC Bayern, his achievements are unrivalled to this day and will forever be a part of the great history of FC Bayern and all of German football.

“As a player and a person, Gerd Müller stands for FC Bayern and its development into one of the biggest clubs in the world like no other. Gerd will forever be in our hearts.”

In his his book, Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football, author David Winner described Müller thus: “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 strangely 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.”

Similarly, teammate Franz Beckenbauer emphasized Müller’s unusual speed: “His pace was incredible. In training I have played against him and I never had a chance.”

Müller is survived by a daughter.