Far Post Header ‘Hall of Fame’ No.19 – Gerd Muller
Gerd Muller was affectionately known as Der Bomber because of his deadly finishing.
He is one of the most prolific strikers in the history of the game, scoring a total of 656 goals over the course of his 19 years in the game. 68 of these goals were for West Germany and came in only 62 matches between 1966 and 1974. He joins the ‘Far Post Header Hall of Fame’ due to his fantastic goalscoring record.
Muller began his career at 1861 Nordlingen, his hometown club. He played at Nordlingen for two seasons (1962/63 and 1963/64) and scored a total of 51 goals in just 31 games. This alerted several club’s attention but Bayern Munich won the race for his signature. He would go on and spend the next 15 years winning almost every competition going with the club.
Whilst at Bayern, Muller won four Bundesliga titles and four German Cups, three consecutive European Cups, an Intercontinental Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup. On a personal level, Muller was the top goalscorer in the Bundesliga seven times and the leading marksman in Europe twice. He scored 40 goals in the 1971/72 season, a record that stands to this day.
Muller played in both the 1970 and 1974 World Cups for West Germany. He scored ten goals at Mexico 70, scoring in every game that West Germany played in the tournament. This included two hat-tricks in the group stages and he also scored the winner over holders England in the Quarter Final. The ten goals meant that Muller won the Golden Boot and also won the European Footballer of the Year.
Four years later, West Germany hosted the Finals and Muller scored four times. The most notable goal was the winner in the Final over Holland as the hosts came back from a second minute penalty to win 2-1 in front of their own fans.
Muller played out the final days of his career in America, as many other professionals did at the time. He scored 40 times for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers over three seasons before hanging his boots up in 1981.
Gerd Muller had a superb goalscoring record. At the end of his career, he had hit the back of the net 656 goals in 718 games. That’s just under a goal a game, which is astounding.He is quite rightfully regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all-time.
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