Legendary German
striker Gerd Mueller died in the early hours of Sunday at the age of 75, his
former club Bayern Munich has confirmed.
“Today, the world of FC Bayern stands still,” the
club wrote on it’s website.
During a glittering career, Mueller scored a record 365
goals for Bayern in the Bundesliga during the 1960s and 70s, as well as scoring
68 times for West Germany in 62 internationals.
“Today is a sad, black day for FC Bayern and its
fans,” said Bayern president Herbert Hainer.
“Gerd Mueller was the greatest striker there has ever
been — and a fine person, a personality in world football.
“Without Gerd Mueller, FC Bayern would not be the club
we all love today.
“His name and the memory of him will live on
forever.”
For the last few years, Mueller had been suffering from
dementia.
He leaves behind his wife Uschi and a daughter.
Largely thanks to his goals, Mueller made history for both
Bayern Munich and West Germany.
He scored an unbelievable 566 goals in 607 competitive games
for FC Bayern.
“Without Gerd’s goals, we’d still be in our old wooden
hut on Saebener Strasse (the club training ground),” Franz Beckenbauer
once said of his former Bayern and West Germany team-mate.
Mueller was part of Bayern teams which won four Bundesliga
titles and dominated the former European Cup — now the Champions League —
lifting the trophy three consecutive seasons from 1974-76.
Mueller’s Bundesliga record of 40 goals scored in a single
season stood from 1971/72 until current Bayern striker Robert Lewandowski
scored for the 41st time in 2020/21 last May.
Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn described Mueller as “one of the
greatest legends in the history of FC Bayern”.
“His achievements are unmatched to this day and will
forever be part of the great history of FC Bayern and all of German
football,” Kahn added.
With the West German national team, Mueller won the 1972
European championships and the World Cup on home soil in 1974, scoring the
winning goal in the final in Munich against the Netherlands.
After his career, he stayed with the club for a long time as
a coach for the youth teams.
