One name, many stories: FC Bayern's Thomas Müllers

His name is Thomas Müller. His too. And his anyway. Thomas Müller is the most common male name in Germany. It appears 90 times in FC Bayern’s member database. But only one of them has won the Champions League. FC Bayern’s members magazine ‘51’ has talked to other Thomas Müllers and found out: The name entails obligations, at least to a certain extent.

“Our name was a special motivation on the pitch for me”

Thomas Müller, 22, is from Austria and studies automotive engineering in Munich. He has been a Bayern member since 2023.

“Thomas Müller has been a Bayern player for as long as I can remember. I can't even imagine I'll soon see him as a TV pundit or in the dugout. Even as a young boy, I always followed FC Bayern and Müller was always there. He wasn't very quick or had strong dribbling skills, but he was always in the right place. I'm originally from Austria and the name is very common there too. During the 2014 World Cup, I was on holiday in Turkey and made a lot of German friends there, every game was shown at public viewing parties, and that's when I realised for the first time that I had a really, really famous namesake. Like so many children, I had a faint hope of becoming a professional footballer one day. Our name also meant Thomas Müller became a special role model for me. My dream of playing on the big stage didn't come true, but it wasn't due to lack of motivation.

The older I got, the more interviews I saw with him and the better I understood how loyal and authentic he is. As an 11-year-old, I didn't really understand his subtle sense of humour. You could say that the better I got to know Thomas Müller, the more I understood what a special person he is – and will hopefully remain.”

“My colleagues called themselves ‘Schürrle’ and ‘Götze’ in 2014”

 

Thomas Müller, 44, is from Bavaria but just moved from Hamburg to Berlin. He has been a Bayern member since 2020.

“Thomas Müller may statistically be the most common male name in Germany – but our Thomas is unique. I first consciously took notice of Thomas Müller during a Bundesliga game in the Van Gaal era. I was following the game on teletext and saw a ‘T. Müller' had just been subbed on. Teletext! That shows for how long this man has shaped our club. What I'll always remember is his authenticity. ‘Weltmeista samma’, he once shouted into a microphone after the 2014 World Cup. After that, the name did have a certain impact on me.

When I answered calls at work, my colleagues called themselves ‘Mario Götze’ or ‘André Schürrle’. I really like the stadium atmosphere and had a season ticket for St. Pauli in my exile in Hamburg, and when they saw my name there, they said on the phone: ‘We'll deal with that straightaway, of course’. I hope Thomas Müller will retain his authentic nature. On the one hand, a Bavarian rascal, on the other hand, this professional work ethic, dedicating himself to a cause with great seriousness and commitment. It’s made him an incredible role model for me and a legend.”

“We were assigned the same hotel room on the Audi Summer Tour“

Dr Thomas Müller, 68, is a retired dentist and lives in Nördlingen, Swabia. He has been a Bayern member since 2005.

“I met Thomas Müller for the first time in 2014, when I got to travel to Rome for the Champions League match with the team. In the evening, still under the impression of the sensational 7-1 win away at AS Roma, I took the liberty of approaching him. He was very amused by the fact that we shared the same name and that I’m from Nördlingen, the birthplace of Gerd Müller.

About a year later, I was travelling with the team on the Audi Summer Tour to China. When I got off the plane, he recognised me and said: ‘Oh, you're back again!’ As a gag, he wanted to swap our IDs at passport control. But that was too risky for me in Beijing. Later on the tour, we were assigned the same hotel room in Guangzhou by mistake, and there was also confusion on the plane because our boarding passes had been swapped. But he always found it as funny as I did.

All that speaks for his character. He’s open, down-to-earth, very intelligent and likes to approach people. He can look back on his career with great pride, and I hope he’ll now have some time to enjoy life. I'm very curious to see what he’ll do after that, my namesake.”

“Suddenly I was famous during the 2010 World Cup”

Thomas Müller, 35, is almost as old as the player Thomas Müller. The gardener and landscaper lives in Warburg (East Westphalia).

“The first time I took notice of Thomas Müller was after the 2010 World Cup, when I was travelling on the ‘Aida’. You carry cards with your own name on the cruise ship, and the Asian waiters always came up to me at the table and said: ‘Thomas Müller, Thomas Müller, FC Bayern, FC Bayern’. I tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but they were firmly convinced I was the real Müller. Suddenly I was a bit famous.

Of course I had good impression of him as a player during the World Cup. Bastian Schweinsteiger once said Müller could easily have been a district league player, but even back then he was always right where a striker should be. Not only is he a unique footballer, he's also an absolute media professional and has always made people laugh. That's definitely what I'll miss the most. I hope he’ll stay at FC Bayern in some role. He always was a figurehead for the club. We can't afford to lose a man like him.”

“So many successes, so down-to-earth. That’s not easy”

Thomas Müller, 56, lives in Raisting, ten minutes from Pähl. He is the manager of a painting company and has been a Bayern member since 2013.

“When I answer the phone, I always say ‘Thomas Müller, Raisting’. I don't want any confusion. Thomas Müller's home town of Pähl is four kilometres away as the crow flies, and people know each other here. Müller's father is an acquaintance of my brother-in-law. We received the first autograph card in 2008, hot off the press, and we still have it at home. The fact that someone from the region made this journey with FC Bayern from the U-11s onwards has triggered a big Müller hype. I was a youth coach at SV Raisting for 15 years, and that was a huge motivation for the youngsters in particular.

I'm a referee today, so of course people laugh when they hear: ‘Oh, Müller, Thomas is in charge today’. When I played for the Raisting seniors, I happened to have the number 25 on my training bag. And Thomas even watched the Pähl seniors from time to time. He's remained a normal boarischer Bua [Bavarian lad], he knows where he’s from and doesn't have to pretend.

After such a long time as a pro and so many successes, that’s not easy. You sometimes see his family here at the bakery or the butcher's or eating Weißwurst. My neighbour is always invited to Müller's legendary Schafkopf tournament, there’s no room for friendship there. Fortunately, we already have the next local hero: Jannis Hohenester from Raisting plays for the FCB U-16s. But there won't be so many namesakes there.”

“In the first row I felt his intensity. Incredible”

Thomas Müller, 48, is a sports and math teacher and lives in Aarau, Switzerland. He has been a Bayern fan since 1985 and a member since 2025.

“People comment on the shared name again and again, Germans who live in Switzerland in particular. But I've been following FC Bayern for a very long time and very intensively, I had been a Bayern fan before Thomas Müller was even born. I go to Munich for home matches a few times per season. Once I got to sit in the front row, right next to the edge of the pitch. We played against Leverkusen and, if I remember correctly, lost 2-1. But that was the first time I realised the intensity he displays on the pitch. It was unbelievable.

I was close to the box and every time there was a throw-in, Müller was unmarked in the end. Although he doesn't stand out for his elegance, he has incredible timing and understands the game like no other. He also sets up his team-mates extremely well and has a nose for space, something I've never seen in anyone else.

I'm a teacher, and of course my pupils too think this connection is funny – so far I've received a Bayern shirt with my name from every graduating class. But not always with the number 25. For the future, I hope Thomas Müller finds something that continues to satisfy him and that he can play to his strengths, as he did in football. He has ideal prerequisites to continue to be very successful in the future.’

We are Thomas Müller

About 50,000 have the name Thomas Müller. Statistically speaking, it is the most common male name in Germany. The film project ‘Who is Thomas Müller?’, which aimed to understand the average German, featured our far-from-average record player.

Eight football teams could be assembled of the 90 FCB members called Thomas Müller – the oldest being 78, the youngest only five. They all share the name of a legend.

Holy: The name Thomas is of Aramaic origins – “Te’oma”, “twin” (no wonder there are so many). Thomas the Apostle doubted the resurrection and is the patron of architects and builders – and soon Raumdeuters?

United: These regions are home to Bayern fans with the name Thomas Müller. The whole country is in red. Three members from Switzerland are namesakes of our number 25. No fan called Thomas Müller is from Austria.

© Images: Lena Giovanazzi, Sebastian Lock, Lukas Zander, Fabian Hugo, Daniel Nguyen, Sebastian Arlt

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