Gerd Müller: biography, sports career, life after football

Gerd Muller - a former German footballer, who is one of the greatest players in history. His career ended some time ago, now he is 71 years old, but for health reasons he no longer has any relation to football. Gerd Mueller played as a central striker and was the best of all for a very long time.

Early career

Gerd Müller was born on November 3, 1945 in the city of Nördlingen, where he began his football career. At an early age he became interested in the sport, and soon joined the youth academy of local club "TSV 1861". There he was in 1960 and immediately began to show their talents in the attack.

As it developed over three years and grew until 1963, when he came of age, he was not offered to sign a professional contract. Gerd Muller, of course, agreed, and thus began his journey into the world of professional football, where he became a prominent figure. However, first things first, because Gerd started with small, namely from his local club "TSV 1861".

The first years of a career

Gerd Muller - a player who started from the bottom. After his first club played in one of the regional leagues. In Germany, the higher is considered to be the first Bundesliga, followed by a second and then a third, and only after them is a set of regional leagues, divided into specific regions. At that time, a third of the Bundesliga did not exist, so the league, which played Muller was sixth in the pyramid.

Anyway, he started his career brilliantly. Muller appeared on the field 31 times during the year and at the same time managed to chop 51 goals. It was just amazing, and it began to immediately examine the larger clubs. "Bavaria" was the most agile. In the current situation it would not seem surprising, but then the Bundesliga only been a couple of years old, and Munich's giant, which now ranks among the three strongest clubs in the world, played in the second Bundesliga, which was then called South Regional League. Thus, in the summer of 1964, Bayern have acquired a player like Gerd Muller. Biography player from that moment began to unfold in an incredible way, which led to the fact that he has become a legend of world football.

The legend of the "Bavaria"

Muller virtually his entire professional career dedicated to the "Bavaria". All records Gerd Müller relate to the period when he played for the club in Munich and for Germany.

He began very impressive: in his first season in 32 games scored 39 goals. Largely because of this, "Bavaria" was published that year in the first Bundesliga, while staying there forever. Since then, Bayern have never fell in the second league. Müller also showed incredible results. In 1967 he became the top scorer of the Bundesliga, scoring 28 goals, as well as the top scorer of the German Cup, having featured in the 4 matches of seven goals. Seven times during their stay in the "Bavaria", he became the best scorer of the championship, while in 1972, putting a record that could not until now no one to beat. In 34 games, he scored 40 goals, and this was the best indicator in the history of the Bundesliga. A year earlier, he managed to score ten goals in just seven games of the German Cup. And since 1972, when the "Bavaria" reached the peak, I began to show amazing results in the European competitions.

For three years, he became the top scorer of the European Cup, which is now known as the Champions League. In 1973, he won this title with 12 goals in 1974 - 8, and in 1975 - to 5. Two of the three cases, the "Bavaria" became the owner of the European Cup.

Regarding how many goals scored exactly Muller during their stay in the "Bavaria", different sources give different information. The most common data in 605 matches striker marked 564 goals. This is a striking result, which is also no one was able to get around today, so Gerd Müller officially considered to be the top scorer in the history of the Bundesliga. Often, however, when the question is asked about how many goals scored by Gerd Muller in the "Bavaria", the numbers are much more impressive. Because of what is happening? As is the case with another great scorer, Brazilian Pele, brightness added to the statistics and unofficial matches. And if they consider the Mueller scored in his career in the "Bavaria" 1254 goals in 999 matches. It's just an incredible rate, but do not forget that he includes unofficial matches, so that the official statistics can hardly be described. As mentioned earlier, Mueller almost his entire career gave the "Bavaria": he spent 15 seasons at the club, from 1964 to 1979. It was only in 1979, when he was 34 years old, Gerd left the club, which became his home, to play a few more years in America.

Go to the "Fort Lauderdale Strikers"

The main club in which he played Gerd Muller - "Bavaria" (Munich), but it also had to be noted, and in America. In 1979, he signed a contract with "Fort Lauderdale Strikers", where he spent three seasons. The first was the most effective, as he scored 19 goals in 25 matches, but the remaining two were also very good. In the second, he scored 14 goals in 29 matches, and in the third - five goals in 17 matches. It was only in the summer of 1982 at the age of 37 Gerd Muller retired from the sport. But what happened next? Gerd Muller lived after a brilliant career? Life after football, the German genius was not nearly as sweet as I would like. However, it is necessary to tell after will consider all his achievements.

for the national team appearances

Gerd Müller became a legend not only for the "Bavaria", but also for the German national team, where he played since 1966. He made his debut in December 1966 in a match against Turkey, but not marked by any goal. At the same time Mueller compensated for such a space that is already in his next match against Albania in April 1967, he scored a poker.

The first major tournament for Mueller became the World Championship in 1970, where he shone just incredible. He took part in all the matches and have not scored in only one of them. Just a tournament, he scored ten goals, which was the best indicator in the history of the way before the Brazilian Ronaldo broke the record in 2006. At the World Cup, the Germans occupied the third place, losing in the semi-finals the Italians, despite the fact that Mueller scored twice. At the 1972 European Championship, which was a triumph for Germany, Mueller played in two games and both marked duplicate, thus bringing the team to victory.

World Championship 1974 was the last for Gerda, and he played no worse than in the previous World Cup. Of course, he scored ten goals, but marked an important goal against Yugoslavia and the only goal against the Poles in the second group stage, and at the same stage literally made the victory over the Swedes, as he gave three assists in one match. In addition, he scored the decisive goal against the Dutch in the final, which brought the German team winning. During his career in the national team Muller played 62 matches in which marked 68 goals. The number of goals he is second only to Miroslav Klose, but that it took 137 matches to score his 71 goal.

Achievements

What are the trophies won this player during his career? Four times he became the champion of Germany, the same time won the German Cup. Mueller became part of the legendary "Bavaria", which was able to win three consecutive European Cup - in 1974, 1975 and 1976. As for the team, that Mueller was able to raise his head above the two trophies: the European Cup and World Cup.

Personal bests

As you can understand, Muller records in most cases are related to its efficiency. He scored the most goals in the framework of the Bundesliga in the history of the tournament, he also scored the most goals in a single season during the existence of the tournament. He was also the top scorer in European competitions for a very long period of time. In 1978, he scored his 69th goal in 77 European Cup matches, and this record lasted 22 years until it was broken Raul Gonzalez from Madrid "Real" in 2000.

As already mentioned above, it is from 1970 to 2006 was the record holder for the number of goals scored in a single World Cup, and is the second most number of goals scored for the national team in the history of the German national team. In 1967 and 1969 he was voted the best player of the year in Germany, in 1970 and in 1972 received the Golden Boot, and in 1970 received the most prestigious individual award - the Golden Ball (then the award has been given really deserving players, it has not yet turned into a farce and competition between Messi and Ronaldo). In general, as a player, Mueller became full descriptions of the "Bavaria", Germany and the world of football.

After football

to finish his career in 1982, Muller was not able to live a full life. He constantly fell into a depression, which are treated with alcohol. He was rescued by former colleagues of the "Bavaria", who persuaded him to undergo rehabilitation. In 1992, he was given a post in duplicate "Bavaria" assistant coach, a position he held until 2014.

What's next?

Unfortunately, in 2014, Mueller was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. He had to get away from the "Bavaria", and in 2015, he lives in a nursing home with a special care.