Gerd Müller

**Gerhard "Gerd" Müller** (November 3, 1945 – August 15, 2021) was a German footballer. He played for FC Bayern München and the Germany national team. He was on the team that won the FIFA World Cup in 1974.

## Club career

He started playing football for TSV 1861 Nördlingen. From 1964 he played for FC Bayern München. In his first season for Bayern München he scored 33 goals in 26 matches. From 1965 to 1979 he scored in 427 Bundesliga matches and scored 365 goals. This record is still existing. From 1979 to 1982 he played in the US-professional league for Ford Lauderdale Strikers and Smiths Brothers Lounge.

## International career

He started his international career on 12 October 1966 in Ankara versus Turkey. In his second match versus Albania he scored his first four of his 68 goals in the national team. He was member of the 1970 FIFA World Cup team. With ten goals he was the best scorer in this tournament. In 1972 Germany won the European Championship and Müller was again the best scorer of this tournament. In 1974 he won with Germany the FIFA World Cup where he scored the second goal in the 2–1 victory over the Netherlands. After this tournament he resigned from the team.

## Records

- Müller scored 68 goals in 62 matches for Germany. He was the best scorer of the team until Miroslav Klose broke his record in 2014.
- During two World Cups (1970 and 1974) he scored 14 goals. This record was broken by Ronaldo during the World Cup 2006.

## Death

On 6 October 2015, it was announced that Müller was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He died on 15 August 2021 at a nursing home in Wolfratshausen, Germany, aged 75.

### Club

|rowspan="2"|Club|rowspan="2"|Season|colspan="3"|League|colspan="2"|DFB-Pokal|colspan="2"|Continental|colspan="2"|Other|colspan="2"|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="3"|TSV 1861 Nördlingen|1962–63|Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord|3|4|—|—|—|3|4||||
|1963–64|Bezirksliga Schwaben-Nord|28|**47**|—|—|—|28|47||||||
|rowspan="16"|Bayern Munich|1964–65|Regionalliga Süd|26|33|—|—|6|6|32|39|||
|1965–66|Bundesliga|33|15|6|1|—|—|39|16|||||
|1966–67|Bundesliga|32|28|4|7|9|8|—|45|43||||
|1967–68|Bundesliga|34|19|4|4|8|7|—|46|30||||
|1968–69|Bundesliga|30|30|5|7|—|—|35|37|||||
|1969–70|Bundesliga|33|38|3|4|2|0|—|38|42||||
|1970–71|Bundesliga|32|22|7|10|8|7|—|47|39||||
|1971–72|Bundesliga|34|40|6|5|8|5|—|48|50||||
|1972–73|Bundesliga|33|36|5|7|6|11|5|12|49|66|||
|1973–74|Bundesliga|34|30|4|5|10|8|—|48|43||||
|1974–75|Bundesliga|33|23|3|2|7|5|—|43|30||||
|1975–76|Bundesliga|22|23|6|7|6|5|1|0|35|35|||
|1976–77|Bundesliga|25|28|4|11|4|5|4|4|37|48|||
|1977–78|Bundesliga|33|24|3|4|6|4|—|42|32||||
|1978–79|Bundesliga|19|9|2|4|—|—|21|13|||||
|rowspan="4"|Fort Lauderdale Strikers|1979|NASL|25|19|—|—|2|0|27|19|||
|1980|NASL|29|14|—|—|7|2|36|16|||||
|1981|NASL|17|5|—|—|—|17|5||||||

### International

|National team|Year|Apps|Goals||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="15"|West Germany|Friendlies – 1966|1|0|
|Friendlies – 1967|1|1|||
|UEFA Euro 1968 qual.|3|6|||
|Friendlies – 1968|1|0|||
|1970 FIFA World Cup qual.|6|9|||
|Friendlies – 1969|3|2|||
|Friendlies – 1970|5|2|||
|1970 FIFA World Cup|6|10|||
|Friendlies – 1971|4|7|||
|UEFA Euro 1972 qual.|7|6|||
|Friendlies – 1972|3|8|||
|UEFA Euro 1972|2|4|||
|Friendlies – 1973|8|7|||
|Friendlies – 1974|5|2|||
|1974 FIFA World Cup|7|4|||

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
- Bundesliga: 1968–69, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74
- DFB-Pokal: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1970–71
- European Cup: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76
- European Cup Winners' Cup: 1966–67
- Intercontinental Cup: 1976

**West Germany**
- FIFA World Cup: 1974
- UEFA European Championship: 1972

**Individual**
- Ballon d'Or: 1970; runner-up: 1972; third place: 1969, 1973
- Footballer of the Year (Germany): 1967, 1969
- Voted best Player 40 Years Bundesliga 1963–2003
- _kicker_ Bundesliga 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
- Bundesliga Top Scorer (Kicker-Torjägerkanone): 1967, 1969, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1978
- European Golden Shoe: 1969–70, 1971–72
- FIFA World Cup Golden Boot: 1970

- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1970
- FIFA Selects World XI: 1971, 1972, 1973
- Worldwide Topscorer: 1970, 1972
- UEFA European Championship Top Scorer: 1972
- UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1972
- European Cup Top Scorer: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977
- Onze de Onze: 1976

- FIFA Order of Merit: 1998
- FIFA 100: 2004
- Golden Foot: 2007, as football legend
- Bravo Otto: Gold award: 1973, 1974; Silver award: 1975; Bronze award: 1972, 1976
- IFFHS Legends
- Bayern Munich All-time XI
- IFFHS All-time Men's B Dream Team: 2021
- IFFHS All-time Europe Men's Dream Team: 2021

## Other websites

- Gerd Müller - Player profile FIFA.com
- Portrait of Gerd Müller  at FIFA.com
- Statistics on Müller's matches and goals at RSSSF.com