Truly the end of an era is upon Bayern Munich fans…
Per a release from its club website, Bayern Munich formally announced that legendary player Thomas Müller will not return for the 2025/26 season.
In the same announcement, the club also stated that is has signed Müller to a short-term extension that will keep him with the team through this summer’s Club World Cup tournament being held in the United States:
World Cup winner, two-time treble winner, record appearance maker: FC Bayern and Thomas Müller, 35, have decided together to bring an end to a unique career spanning 25 years and 33 trophies this summer. Bavaria-born Müller joined the FC Bayern academy at the age of 10 in summer 2000, underwent an unparalleled development, made history with the club, won everything there is to win and has become the club’s record appearance maker with a total of 743 competitive matches.
The German record champions will honour Müller’s magnificent career with, among other things, his own testimonial. It’s also been agreed that the two-time treble winner and world champion will play his final games for Bayern at the FIFA Club World Cup, which takes place in the USA from 15 June to 13 July.
Müller made his professional debut for Bayern on 15 August 2008 in a 2-2 draw against Hamburger SV. Since then he’s won 12 Bundesliga titles, the DFB Cup six times, the Champions League twice, the Club World Cup twice, the European Super Cup twice and the German Supercup eight times. In September, the attacker overtook Munich goalkeeping icon Sepp Maier as the Reds’ record appearance maker and is currently on 743 competitive appearances, in which he’s registered 247 goals and 273 assists.
He scored 45 goals in 131 games for the German national team from 2010 to 2024, winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He won the Golden Boot as the joint top goalscorer at his debut World Cup in 2010 and also took part in the tournaments in 2018 and 2022 as well as the European Championships in 2012, 2016, 2021 and 2024.
The following club figures also had formal statements with the release:
President Herbert Hainer: “Thomas Müller is the definition of a Bavarian fairytale career; he grew in Bavaria and with Bayern. From Ammersee to the Allianz Arena, as far as Asia and America. Nobody has won more Bundesliga titles, and 33 trophies in total so far speak volumes. He ranks among the most outstanding personalities in FC Bayern history.”
CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen: “The most important thing is that we’ve found a mutual solution. Thomas Müller is one of the greatest player personalities this club has produced, and therefore it was important to us to find a fair and amicable agreement. Now we want to work together to ensure that this incredible career is crowned with hopefully three more trophies. There are few players that fans still rave about decades after their career. Thomas Müller will be one of them.”
Board member for sport Max Eberl: “This decision was understandably anything but easy for us. The key factor in the end was simply the squad planning, where we’re putting the focus on the future. The talks we conducted with Thomas were open and transparent on both sides. Thomas knows he’s held in the highest regard at FC Bayern, and this decision doesn’t change that. Now we want to win more trophies together with him. Thomas doesn’t play according to the textbook – he writes his own: 25 years with FC Bayern at the highest level.”
Sporting director Christoph Freund: “Thomas Müller: no tricks, no show, just an incredible amount of instinct and extraordinary reading of the game – a pure footballer. There’ll never be another one like him, that’s for sure, and he internalised FC Bayern from a young age. This decision was extremely hard, as everyone can understand. In the end it was for reasons of squad planning, and the most important thing is that you can look each other in the eye afterwards. That’s the case here. Now we will do everything we can to finish with more trophies.”
Müller also had a statement within the release, which we covered here. Below, is a brief video released by the club to celebrate Müller’s career:
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We bow to you, Thomas. ❤️#DankeThomas pic.twitter.com/z7CdJoi96t
— FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) April 5, 2025
The Thomas Müller Era at Bayern Munich will end after this season.
How do fans feel about it? How should fans feel about it? Is it just the natural course of a career even for a club legend like Müller — or could something have been done to make it a more palatable exit for fans and the player alike?
One thing is for sure — there is a lot to talk about and discuss regarding the career achievements of a player like Müller and why it has all come to this. Who is at fault? Who should be blamed? Let’s talk about all of this and more on this Special Edition of Bavarian Podcast Works.
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