The former national striker Gerd Müller, who died in August, will be honoured as a “Legend of Sport” at the beginning of November. It is the first time that the honour has been awarded posthumously.
The award will be presented on 6 November at the 39th German Sports Press Ball in Frankfurt am Main. “With the ‘Legend of Sport’ honour, we pay tribute to the sporting life’s work of a personality who has inspired and touched not only football fans for more than a decade,” the organisers’ statement said. “Gerd Müller’s career is unique. “
In agreement with the family: Rainer Bonhof accepts award
Gerd Müller’s widow Uschi Müller has agreed to the honour. In consultation with the family, former national team colleague Rainer Bonhof will accept the Pegasos Award on his behalf, he said.
Gerd Müller played for FC Bayern Munich from 1964 to 1979. With an incredible 365 goals in 453 Bundesliga games, he is not only the record goal scorer of FC Bayern, but also of the Bundesliga. For the national team, he scored 68 goals in 62 international matches between 1966 and 1974 and was thus also the German record goal scorer for a long time. In June 2014, he had to relinquish this record to Miroslav Klose after almost 40 years. Müller was European champion with the national team in 1972 and world champion in 1974, scoring the 2-1 winning goal against the Netherlands in the final in Munich. He celebrated four championship titles and four cup victories with FC Bayern, and the “Bomber of the Nation” also won the kicker goalscoring crown seven times. Müller died on 15 August at the age of 75.
The “Legend of Sport” award has been presented since 2007. Previous winners include Olympic biathlon champions Magdalena Neuner and Laura Dahlmeier, former Wimbledon champion Boris Becker (tennis), double Olympic champion Kati Witt (figure skating) and football greats such as Franz Beckenbauer, Uwe Seeler, Lothar Matthäus and Joachim Löw.
