World champion, FC Bayern record player, original Bavarian: In Vancouver, Thomas Müller experiences how to reinvent himself – with less pressure, more composure and a touch of “Radio Müller”. Müller in the spotlight sports exclusive interview.
It’s one of those typical Thomas Müller moments. As soon as he sits there, ready for an exclusive interview with Blickpunkt Sport in Vancouver, he says with a grin: “Radio Müller also broadcasts here.” The tone of voice, the wink, the mixture of self-irony and down-to-earth attitude – Thomas Müller is still Thomas Müller, even around 8,300 kilometers from Munich.
The environment has changed: instead of Säbener Straße, Perlacher Forest and Isar floodplains, now the Vancouver skyline, water and mountains. Instead of Bavarian smoothness, the English ‘Nice to meet you’.
“I’m brave enough to express myself in grammatically awkward English,” says Müller: “I also like to be corrected because I want to get ahead.” A sentence that reveals a lot about the new Thomas Müller. About a man who is still the same but allows himself to be different.
New beginnings with a good feeling
The move to Canada was more than just a sporting change. It was an experiment. “I had a good feeling right from the start,” he says: “We want to play active football, not just counterattack. That’s my football.” Müller wants to prove that you can still try something new in your mid-30s without mourning your successful past. Instead of the Bundesliga, Major League Soccer, instead of routine, a big adventure.
Dream start in Major League Soccer
Seven games, eight goals, four assists – is Müllert also in Canada? Müller laughs: “Yes, it runs – and runs.” Müller has an explanation for the “why” that is almost too simple.
“I get into a lot more offensive situations here than in the Bundesliga,” he says: “In the Bundesliga the defense is tighter and harder. There’s a little more space here.” And Müller, the “space interpreter” – they even adopted this nickname in Canada – needs exactly this space – for his intuition, his ingenious passes. Which still seem as if they came straight from your stomach.
Between Bavaria and Vancouver
His new place of residence does the rest. “When you come to Vancouver, you immediately have a positive feeling,” says Müller: “You come to a beautiful city with a lot of greenery, a lot of water, the mountains.” Sydney, Australia would have been an alternative, Müller revealed in an exclusive interview.
But in the end, family and the length of the flight spoke against it: “Then I said: ten hours of direct flight a day or 24 hours – and you have to go over three stops… ‘Yes, then do Vancouver’ – so the debate was quickly put to rest, everyone agreed on that.”
Vancouver, water and vision
So Vancouver, a city and an environment that elicits one or two Müller-typical sayings between philosophy and calendar sayings in the interview: “People can look at water without getting bored. They can’t do that so well with a wall.”
Less pressure, more calm
There is a lot of calmness in Müller’s words, but also gratitude that he has found such an ideal new club after his surprising departure from Bayern. “There’s less pressure here,” he says. “I actually miss it a little,” he adds, “but it’s also nice to live more relaxed.”
Not a superstar – and yet a leader
His calmness doesn’t just have to do with the place, but also his attitude: “I didn’t come here to become the superstar of Vancouver,” he says: “But I don’t resist it either.” Müller, the FC Bayern record player, the title collector, did not come to Canada to necessarily be the center of attention.
In Vancouver he just wants to continue doing what he enjoys most: playing football. Otherwise, he’s interested in new experiences, new insights – without the constant focus of the media like in Germany.
Beard, balance and traction
His beard, the new trademark, is just a symbol. “I’ve never had a beard before,” says Müller, “but now I’m just going to try it out.” A small thing and yet an expression of a new freedom to change without immediately losing your identity.
More time, fewer appointments, less pressure. “I even have time for personal care now,” he says with a laugh. The sentence sounds as banal as it is honest, because it wonderfully underlines perhaps the most important change in Müller’s new life: fewer roles, more space for the people behind them. Müller doesn’t want to draw conclusions about his career or look back wistfully. Müller remains curious.
The miller remains the miller
“I don’t like the word ‘miss’,” he says of his family and friends in distant Bavaria: “You always have a choice. And I consciously decided on the adventure.” Müller seems to have arrived – in a new phase of life that lives not only from titles and goals, but from experience, lightness and humor.
Müller is happy – about himself, about Canada, about the football world. And he remains what he always was: a guy who radiates just as much energy at 35 as he did at 20. Just with a little more beard. A soccer world champion who has reinvented himself without losing himself. Or as he says it himself: “I am who I am.” Even if it’s now in English.
Source: Blickpunkt Sport October 19, 2025 – 9:45 p.m
