And“ boom“: Gerd Müller scored 365 goals for FC Bayern. He tops the alltime Bundesliga goalscorer list.
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BAYERN GAME February 2025
Oliver Kahn was five years old at the time, and sometimes you don‘ t quite trust the images you‘ ve memorised through the eyes of a child when you‘ re older. The goalkeeping titan replays the opening ceremony of the 1974 World Cup in Germany in his head. He found it a little strange at the time and in some ways now in retrospect too, he says with a grin:“ There were these big, weird footballs on the pitch with people coming out of them.“ Perhaps ″ there‘ s a bit of memory distortion involved: it was a very, very, very long time ago. It was generations ago.“ But Kahn is completely accurate in his recollection of the main element of the ceremony. The representatives of the 16 participating nations emerged from the oversized plastic balls: flag wavers from Florence and pipers from Scotland, gauchos from Chile and clog dancers from the Netherlands, a Brazilian samba dance group performed, and pop singer Frank Schöbel sang the song ″ Freunde gibt es überall“( There are friends everywhere) for the GDR. The Winninger Winzer Tanz- und Trachtengruppe( Winninger Vintners dance and traditional costume group) from the Mosel represented the host country, Germany. The sky was overcast and it rained at times, but on the whole the event, which Kahn recalls as being odd, came together nicely. With a know-it-all view from today, one could only criticise the directors for one detail: Instead of the Winninger Vintners as representatives of the German footballing community, it
The FC Bayern legend: With heroes like Müller, Beckenbauer and Hoeneß, FCB were able to gain crucial momentum.
would have been better to have Gerd Müller emerge from the giant ball. The motto of the 2006 FIFA World Cup held in Germany was‘ Die Welt zu Gast bei Freunden’ or‘ A time to make friends’, but the summer of 1974 marked the first time( West) Germany welcomed visitors to a World Cup tournament. But unlike in 2006, when the German national team was on a quest to establish its own football culture and was therefore a selfless host, the visiting nations knew they would have to deal with Gerd Müller at some point on their way to the 1974 title. Four years earlier, the striker had racked up ten goals at the World Cup in Mexico, and even more than 50 years later, noone has come anywhere near achieving that level of tournament success – it was clear that the‘ Bomber of the Nation’ would not stop scoring goals at his home tournament until the title had been won. His team wasn‘ t the best, but in the end they became world champions. And it was only logical that Gerd Müller scored the winning goal in the final. It‘ s not only because of this historic goal that Gerd Müller has fascinated fans for generations. Oliver Kahn, for example, nods emphatically when asked whether he‘ s glad he never had to save shots from Müller in his goalkeeping career: ″ Absolutely, absolutely,“ says the 2002 World Cup runner-up. ″ He had an incredible feel for the situation in the penalty area and how he had to move. A goalscorer of the highest calibre.“ Kahn had the utmost respect for the sort of players you always managed to lose track of.“ And then the game was over, the striker had scored the decisive goals again, and you were left wondering if he’ d been there at all.” According to Kahn, Müller played in a“ very, very important, decisive phase for FC Bayern. The club created its legendary status in the 70s on the basis of players like Gerd Müller, Franz Beckenbauer, Uli Hoeneß, Sepp Maier and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who were crucial factors along the way.” For me, says the long-serving‘ Titan’,‘ they were all my great role models“. How did it all start?“ What have we got here?” was the first thought Sepp Maier had when the young Gerd from Nördlingen first stood in front of him.“ He was well fed,” the goalkeeping great recalls.“ His thighs were the width of other people’ s
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