Ex-Bayern & DFB doctor
“Magic Fingers and Hands”: Müller-Wohlfahrt turns 80
Celebrating his 80th birthday: Ex-Bayern Doc Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. photo
© Matthias Balk/dpa
Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt used to fly over the soccer field with his hair blowing in the air. “Mull” was team doctor at FC Bayern for more than four decades – and is celebrating his 80th birthday today.
On the occasion of Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt’s 80th birthday, FC Bayern Munich expressed its “endless gratitude” to its long-standing team doctor.
“Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt was always on hand for FC Bayern 24 hours a day for 40 years and has played a large part in the success of our club. FC Bayern will always be grateful to him for that,” said CEO Oliver Kahn. Honorary President Uli Hoeneß said that Müller-Wohlfahrt had “become a very good friend” to whom the club was “endlessly grateful”.
Until the summer of 2020, Müller-Wohlfahrt was the team doctor at FC Bayern for more than four decades, which he joined in April 1977. He had also worked for the DFB team for more than 20 years, the World Cup in Russia 2018 was his last tournament. This Friday Müller-Wohlfahrt turned 80 years old.
“I’m a driven person”
“I’m driven,” said the doctor, whom many athletes still visit in his practice: “As long as I can help people, retirement doesn’t make any sense to me.”
Bayern President Herbert Hainer said it “can’t be topped when someone like Usain Bolt says that Müller-Wohlfahrt is like his second dad”, for FC Bayern “Mull was the first dad”.
However, Müller-Wohlfahrt’s time in Munich did not go smoothly. After tensions with the then coach Jürgen Klinsmann, the doctor took his first break in 2008 because of the redesign of his practice at FC Bayern. When Klinsmann was gone, “Mull” returned. In April 2015, after a big argument with the then Munich head coach Pep Guardiola, there was another absence. When Pep was gone, Müller Wohlfahrt returned.
Heynckes: “With your magic fingers and hands”
Ex-Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes also paid tribute to the work of the sports doctor: “With your magic fingers and hands you always managed to ensure that the players’ feet and legs were perfectly fit,” Heynckes wrote in “Kicker”.
The doctor’s contribution to Bayern’s successes was immense, wrote 77-year-old Heynckes, who introduced his contribution, based on Müller-Wohlfahrt’s nickname, with “Dear Mull” and ended with “Your friend Jupp”. After Bayern won the treble in 2013, UEFA published a ranking of muscle injuries in each team. “FC Bayern was at the top with the fewest injuries of this kind,” said Heynckes: “The three titles back then were largely due to you and your employees.”
For the former coach, the doctor is not “just the top doctor, but also an extraordinary person with a wonderful character. It means a lot to me to be able to count you among my friends.”
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