Manfred Müller (footballer)


Manfred Müller is a German former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Müller began his career with Schwarz-Weiß Essen, before moving to Wuppertaler SV in 1971. Wuppertal immediately earned promotion to the Bundesliga, and finished a surprising third in their first season in the top-flight. The title challenge was not to repeated, however, and the club struggled against relegation in 1973–74, and dropped down the following year. After Wuppertal's failure to bounce back in their first season, Müller left, moving south to in 1976 to join 1. FC Nürnberg. In his second season at Nürnberg, they won promotion, beating Rot-Weiss Essen in a playoff, only to be relegated the following year. Müller was on the move again, and after a brief spell at ESV Ingolstadt, moved on to Bayern Munich, ostensibly as cover for Walter Junghans. He did, though, manage a few decent runs in the first team, including an appearance in the 1982 European Cup Final, but eventually lost his place to the incoming Jean-Marie Pfaff, before retiring in 1984. He returned to 1. FC Nürnberg as general manager, and made a surprise return to action in November 1986, starting a Bundesliga fixture because of an injury to Andreas Köpke. He now runs a television production company.

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