After over 40 years in the club
“Deeply hit”-Müller-Wohlfahrt shoots against Bavaria
03/19/2025 – 3:46 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Müller-Wohlfahrt was part of the inventory of FC Bayern for almost half a century. Since his farewell in 2020, he has seen the club distant.
The 125th anniversary of FC Bayern Munich ensures great emotions. However, as at an official event at the end of February, a long-term personality of the club was missing again: Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt. The former team doctor of the Munich team watched the anniversary from a distance. In an interview with the “Münchner Merkur”, the 82-year-old explained the reasons for his reluctance.
Above all, his farewell in 2020, which was unusually quiet. There was no official farewell, no honor and no gesture of the club. “Do you know how often I heard the question of Bayern members, why there was no standing ovation, no brass music, no farewell gift, no food, no gesture? My reaction to it: The answer can only give the club,” explained Müller-Wohlfahrt.
Meanwhile, “deeply hit” had human disappointments. “I ended the club’s studies from myself. The club was part of my life for many decades,” he explained – and then struggled with the development of the German record champions in recent years. For example, when it comes to the “Mia San Mia” feeling.
Müller-Wohlfahrt no longer sees this so pronounced. “For me it is more of a thing of the past,” said the 82-year-old and recalled the times under Ottmar Hitzfeld and Jupp Heynckes. At that time, the feeling of togetherness within the club was even more in the foreground.
Today Müller-Wohlfahrt misses the close bond for many players to the club. “FC Bayern was a family, but today he has become more and more a large company,” he said.
Müller-Wohlfahrt had his entry into FC Bayern in 1976-and this was unusual. Due to long border controls, he came from Berlin too late for his interview in Munich. But the then Bayern manager Robert Schwan kept the conversation briefly: “Let’s do it briefly. We are looking for a doctor like you, can you imagine that?” The collaboration was sealed with a handshake.
Müller-Wohlfahrt received the backing of Franz Beckenbauer early on. The then captain expressed his trust and said: “You have three years to develop. See that you will become the best sports doctor in Germany.”
Müller-Wohlfahrt also worked closely with Uli Hoeneß. The manager at the time was present with almost every treatment to support the players. “I accepted this because Uli was committed and interested,” said Müller-Wohlfahrt. Over time, a close relationship of trust developed between the two.
In his time as a team doctor, Müller-Wohlfahrt had to make difficult decisions again and again. So he remembers a scene with Branko Oblak, which should train despite a broken toe. Müller-Wohlfahrt got the player off the pitch at the time and prevailed in a board meeting: “We are doing what the doctor says,” club President Wilhelm Neudecker clarified at the time.
After a temporary break, Müller-Wohlfahrt returned to FC Bayern in 2017 after Uli Hoeneß and Hasan Salihamidžić asked him. The team urgently needed help at the time, said the doctor.