Best Bayern Munich Players of All Time
Die Roten have dominated the German league for years, amassing hosts of fans internationally and winning trophies for fun. So, we have tried to list the best Bayern Munich players of all time and see who helped them in their massive success.
Bayern Munich are simply the most successful German team of all time. A part of Die Bayern’s legacy is the club’s host of world-class players, some of which have become the legends of the game itself. There are Ballon d’Or winners and Golden Boot winners aplenty among Bayern Munich’s players, so we thought it might be a good idea to see who are the best Bayern Munich players of all time.
The Bavarian giants are the only club in European football that has had Treble-winning seasons (2012-13, 2019-2020). This makes us think about who could be the greatest players of Bayern Munich history, and could they be even better than the players who won 2 Trebles?! well let’s find out below
Greatest Bayern Munich players of all time
With 32 national titles, 20 DFB Pokal trophies, and 6 Champions League titles, there have to be some world-class players amongst the best Bayern Munich players of all time. So, let’s see who these players are:
Thomas Muller
The most decorated German player of all time needs no introduction. The beloved Thomas Muller has been a pillar in Bayern Munich’s immense success in the past decade or so. A product of Bayern Munich’s youth academy, Muller made his way to the first team under Bayern boss Louis van Gaal during the 2009-10 season. That same season, Bayern was on the cusp of completing a Treble, but ultimately, they lost the Champions League title to Inter Milan, managing only a double instead. However, Muller wouldn’t let the dream of a Trable go!
In fact, Muller went on to become one of 13 players who achieved the European Treble twice. He has also won 11 Bundesliga titles and 6 DFB Pokals. He has also excelled at the international level, becoming the World Cup Golden Boot winner at age 21. As mentioned before, he is the most decorated German player, having won 32 titles.
Muller, der Raumdeuter
Despite his goofy demeanor, Muller is one of his generation’s smartest players, known for his exceptional positioning and movement on the pitch. He likes to call the position he plays “Raumdeuter” (space interpreter), as he can use the space he is given to its deadliest effect. Even though he is a natural goal-scorer, he is even a better goal-creator, setting the record for most assists in Bundesliga history (159 as of writing this article). In the 2019-20 season, he registered an incredible tally of 21 assists, a record shared only by Lionel Messi in Europe’s top 5 leagues.
Even though he hasn’t won as many individual trophies as some of the people on this list, there is no denying that Thomas Muller is one of the current best players of Bayern Munich. He represents the winning mentality that Bayern Munich is known for. He is a player who always leads by example, working hard to get every ball, create scoring opportunities and achieve his ultimate goal: winning in Bayern’s shirt.
Manuel Neuer
The first of 3 goalkeepers on our list of best Bayern Munich players of all time is their current captain, Manuel Neuer. Neuer is basically responsible for a new style of goalkeeping as he became the first to adopt the role of sweeper keeper. Having started his career at Schalke 04, Neuer moved to Bayern in 2011, where he established himself as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation.
Since joining Bayern Munich, Neuer has won 10 Bundesliga titles, 2 Champions League trophies, and 5 DFB-Pokals, and like his teammate Thomas Muller, his two Champions League titles were at the end of 2 Treble winning seasons. He also won the 2014 World Cup with Germany, helping Germany keep a clean sheet in the final by making vital saves against Argentina.
Neuer is perhaps the best sweeper-keeper ever, as he tends to come out of his goal and sweep the long balls that the oppositions play behind his defenders. He is extremely good with both his feet and has a certain arrogance with the ball at his feet. In fact, he has occasionally assisted several goals by playing long balls from the back.
In goal, however, it’s a different story altogether as you’d be hard-pressed to find any goalkeeper with Neuer’s level of reflexes. For all his qualities as a goalkeeper as well as his leadership, both on and off the pitch, he will forever be amongst the greatest Bayern Munich players of all time.
Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski, or as Thomas Muller calls him, “LewanGoalski”, is a bona fide goal-scoring machine. Don’t get it wrong, Lewa is far more than just a goal-scorer, but his goalscoring rate as well as the hunger he shows for it, can only be surpassed by the legends of the game like Gerd Muller or Messi and Ronaldo.
Lewandowski’s career had humble beginnings; having started in his home country in the lower leagues of Poland, Lewandowski first joined Bayern’s biggest rivals, Dortmund, in 2010. After winning two Bundesliga titles, a DFB-Pokal, and a DFL-Supercup with Dortmund, Lewandowski joined Bayern on a free transfer in the summer of 2014. He then went on to become Bayern Munich’s second-best goalscorer of all time and one of the best players in Bayern Munich history.
With Bayern, he won eight Bundesliga titles and three DFB Pokals as well as completing the European Treble, which was Die Rotten’s second Treble, by beating PSG in the Champions League final, where he almost single-handedly took his team to the final by scoring 15 goals. He previously lost the competition’s final in the 2012-13 season with Dortmund to another Treble-winning Bayern team.
Lewa scored 344 goals in 375 appearances with Bayern Munich, becoming the second in Bayern Munich’s all-time highest goal scorers, just behind the legendary Gerd Muller. Despite joining Bayern in his mid-20s, Lewa became a legend in a shorter time than any player on our list. The Polish wizard may have left Bayern for Barcelona, but there is no denying that he is one of Bayern Munich best players of all time, having won two FIFA Best Player of the Year award.
Oliver Kahn
Usually, great strikers terrorize opposition defenses and goalkeepers, but with Oli Kahn, the reverse was true, as only a handful of strikers dared to face him one-on-one. Kahn was pure rage, made flesh. At times it was as if he was so angry that someone took a shot at his goal that he had to go and save it, which he usually did. The current Bayern Munich CEO definitely had a unique goalkeeping style that helped his teams mentally and on the pitch.
Born in Karlsruhe, Oliver Kahn featured for Karlsruher SC for several years before joining Bayern. There he was nicknamed “der Titan” due to his charisma and command on the pitch. His outstanding quality would help Bayern achieve unsurmountable success, as he became one of the most decorated German players of all time. Kahn won eight Bundesliga titles, six DFB Pokals, a Champions League, and a UEFA Cup with Bayern, winning every trophy that a German could at the club level.
But the peak of his career was at the 2002 World Cup. Kahn captained a German side that only a few thought would go the distance, reaching the final, mostly due to his incredible performances. Kahn only conceded one goal on their way to the final.
Despite Kahn’s errors in the final and Germany ultimately losing to Brazil 2-0, he was awarded the Golden Ball of the tournament, an award given to the best player of the tournament. To this day, he remains the only goalkeeper ever to have won the Golden Ball of any World Cup tournament, and that is one of the many reasons he is one of the best Bayern Munich players of all time
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge is the first Ballon d’Or winner on our list of greatest Bayern Munich players of all time. The legendary striker spent a decade in Bayern’s colors before moving abroad to Italy to join Inter Milan and later to Servette in Switzerland towards the end of his career. Although there is no doubt that his best years were with Bayern, managing to win two Ballon d’Or trophies and becoming one of the best Bayern Munich players of all time.
Rummenigge started his career at the amateur side Borussia Lippstadt. He played there for a few years before joining Bayern at the age of 19 in 1974. As a striker, Kalle was known for his incredible technique. It was later in his career that Rummenigge became a great goal scorer and ended up winning the Bundesliga top goal-scorer award three times.
Rummenigge was part of the fantastic Bayern Munich team of the 1970s. He managed to win two consecutive Champions League titles in 1975 and 1976. However, since it was only at the beginning of his Bayern career, he only played a small part in it. The real height of his powers came at the start of the 1980s when he won two consecutive Bundesliga titles and two DFB Pokal trophies. He also managed to win the 1980 Euro with Germany. He didn’t have that much luck with the World Cup, though, as he lost two finals in 1982 and 1986.
Rummenigge represented Bayern Munich in 422 matches and scored 217 goals, which makes him the 3rd best goal scorer in Bayern Munich’s history. For his achievements with Bayern and Germany, he was awarded two consecutive Ballon d’Or trophies in 1980 and 1981, forever cementing his place as one of the best German players of all time.
Philipp Lahm
Philipp Lahm is definitely one of the greatest right-backs of all time. The Magic dwarf was sensational at Bayern and won nearly everything in football at the club. He had to work hard to achieve that status, even harder than some considering his small stature. However, he started his professional career at Stuttgart after being loaned out from Bayern Munich’s youth academy to gain more experience.
After two years away at Stuttgart, Lahm returned to Bayern and started his journey towards greatness. The Magic Dwarf played on both flanks as a fullback; later in his career, he also played as a defensive midfielder. He was so good that he excelled at every position he played in, especially the right back, where he became one of the best right-backs of all time.
Known for his exceptional work rate, Lahm slowly became one of the best Bayern Munich players of all time. Like the best fullbacks of all time, he was like a machine, moving up and down the pitch to attack or stop the opposition. He represented Bayern in 517 competitive matches and scored 17 goals, achieving numerous honors while doing so.
With Bayern, Lahm won eight Bundesliga titles, six DFB Pokals, and one Champions League title, one of Bayern’s Trebles. He achieved the highest with Germany, winning the 2014 World Cup as a captain and forever etching his name in football history. Lahm captained Bayern for many years, and through a lot of success that they achieved, he has become one of the best players in Bayern Munich history
Sepp Maier
The word ‘Legend’ gets tossed around in football a lot, but it’s totally deserved when it’s used to describe players like Sepp Maier. One of the German best players of all time, Sepp Maier, achieved everything with Bayern and Die Mannschaft.
A native of Bavaria, Maier spent his whole career at Bayern, starting from the youth levels. He was also a staple of West Germany’s national team setup, appearing as an unused substitute in the 1966 World Cup. But as the 70s came around, the world witnessed Germany’s domination of international and European football, as both Bayern and West Germany won everything.
Maier won 4 DFP Pokal trophies as well as 4 Bundesliga titles. Still, his crowning achievement with Bayern was three consecutive Champions League titles (the European Cup) between 1972 and 1974. This is why he is one of the best Bayern Munich players of all time. He also won the Euro 1972 and the 1974 World Cup with the West Germany national team.
Maier was an unbreachable wall between the posts, helping the Golden Generation of German football achieve unsurmountable success. For this, he will always be remembered as one of the legends of the game.
Lothar Matthaus
Yet another Ballon d’Or winner on our list is Lothar Matthaus, one of the greatest central midfielders ever. Matthaus played for many teams during his illustrious career but spent over half of it at Bayern Munich. He was a pillar in Die Rotten’s midfield line, first as a central midfielder and later in a more defensive role as a sweeper, establishing himself as one of the best Bayern players of all time.
Interestingly his career didn’t start at Bayern but rather at one of their rivals, Borussia Monchengladbach. He started at Gladbach in 1979 and stayed with them until 1984. Although he didn’t win any major honors with ‘Gladbach, he did manage to be a part of Germany’s 1980 Euro squad, which won the competition. In 1984 he joined Bayern, in what was his first stint at the club, leading to him winning three Bundesliga titles and a DFB Pokal. Bayern also reached the Champions League final in 1987, but despite leading 1-0 for most of the game, they conceded two late goals and lost the final to Porto.
Matthaus becomes a Ballon d’Or Winner
Matthaus’ next chapter was at Inter, where won a Serie A and a UEFA Cup. He then took the 1990 World Cup by storm, captaining Germany to World Cup glory. Because of his role in that achievement, he received the Ballon d’Or later that year. Matthaus would return to Bayern in 1992, and this time he would stay for eight years, winning four more Bundesliga titles, two DFB Pokals, and a UEFA Cup.
Despite being a prominent goal scorer in his early days as a player, Matthaus became a more defensive player in his later years. His role as a sweeper helped create a strong shield in front of Bayern’s defense which was integral in their success during the 1990s. As a Ballon d’Or winner and a legend of the game in general, Matthaus will forever be one of the best German players of all time.
Gerhard Muller
We may have called Lewandowski a goal machine earlier, but there is no player in the history of the game more deserving of the title than the legendary Gerd Muller. Der Bomber was born to for one thing and one thing only: scoring goals. West Germany and Bayern had many legendary players during the 70s, some of whom are on this list. But the immense success of those teams could never be achieved if it wasn’t for Muller’s goals.
Muller started his career in his hometown of Nordlingen, but he soon moved to Bayern in 1964, where he stayed for 14 seasons. He scored more than 30 goals a season in all competitions for 12 of those seasons. Muller is also one of the most decorated players at an individual level, with two European Golden Boots and a Ballon d’Or award in 1970 to his name.
Gerd Muller won every trophy there ever was with Bayern and West Germany. With Bayern, he won four Bundesliga titles, four DFB Pokal trophies, three consecutive European Cups (Champions League) from 1974 to 1976, and a European Cup Winners Cup. He scored an eye-watering amount of 565 goals in 607 matches for Bayern, which earned him seven Bundesliga top scorer awards. And with the national team, he won the 1972 Euro and the 1974 World Cup, scoring 68 goals in 62 matches.
Gerd Muller’s status as the greatest goalscorer ever could only be contested by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. Even then, it could be argued that Muller was the better finisher, with a better goal ratio per game. He is undoubtedly one of the best Bayern Munich players of all time, if not the best, and he comes only second on our list.
Franz Beckenbauer
Who else but the great Franz Beckenbauer could be on top of our list of best players in Bayern Munich history?! Aptly nicknamed Der Kaiser or the Emperor because of his commanding presence and elegance on the pitch, Beckenbauer is also the greatest German player of all time. Unlike most players on this list, his influence on Germany and Bayern Munich didn’t end with his playing career, as he managed to lead both teams into great success as a manager also.
However, let’s go back to his playing days, as he started his career in Bayern Munich’s youth system. Beckenbauer then slowly made his way to the first team and spent most of his best days as a player there. He started his career as a midfielder but later transitioned to the sweeper role or a libero. He is largely credited with having mastered the role of sweeper in football. His calm demeanor and command of the ball made him perfect at his job shielding the back line.
Der Kaiser’s impact on German football
As a player, he won four Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich as well as four DFB Pokals. He was also the captain of the greatest generation of Bayern Munich players, which also included players like Maier, Gerd Muller, and Rummenigge. Together, they won an unprecedented three consecutive European Cup (Champions League) titles from 1974 to 1976. During this time, Beckenbauer also captained Germany first to European Glory in 1972 Euro and then two years later to World Cup success in 1974, writing his name forever amongst the greatest footballer ever.
After becoming one of the best Bayern Munich player of all time, he then went into management where he became one of only three people who have won the World Cup as both a player and a manager. He had also led Bayern to a Bundesliga and a UEFA Cup title a few years later. Beckenbauer won two Ballon d’Or trophies during his career as a player by leading Bayern and Germany to every trophy that was available. Der Kaiser impacted the game of football immensely as both a footballer and a sporting figure. There will simply be no player like him ever again, for Bayern Munich or Germany.
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