The Ambry in Florida - Memories of Gerd Müller to mark his 80th birthday.

Gerd Müller would have turned 80 on 3 November. He remains unforgotten - in Munich as well as in Florida, where he once played for the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. To mark his birthday, we visited the Ambry, his old restaurant, where we realised how much of a presence he still has on the other side of the Atlantic.

There's a certain knock that only insiders are familiar with. When the Champions League kicks off in Munich, it's afternoon in Fort Lauderdale and the Ambry is closed. Technically speaking. From the outside, the restaurant looks like a small castle, and it really is hard to gain access to. But if you know the code, the door magically opens. Inside, a group of FC Bayern fans sit watching the Reds playing football on the other side of the Atlantic. "We watch every game," says Hans Huber, the landlord, and his sister Gaby adds: "They sit here the day before the game predicting the starting XI." Football is at home in the Ambry. That's down to Gerd Müller, who used to run it.

The restaurant in South Florida is an FCB museum. The walls are covered with pictures, photos, posters, pennants and scarves, the staff balance food and drinks for the customers between display cases full of memorabilia: trophies, beer mugs, a ‘Golden Boot’ of the ‘Bomber of the Nation’ is a coveted motif for selfies. He still has 1,000 pictures at home and cupboards full of memorabilia, says Hans. But the Ambry is already bursting at the seams. Just yesterday, he gave a Bayern fan a pennant. "He's taking it to Munich for the museum in the Allianz Arena," Hans adds, "it doesn't help anyone if all the stuff is gathering dust in boxes."

Memories come alive when you enter the Ambry. Nothing is allowed to gather dust here. When Gerd Müller moved from FC Bayern to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers at the end of the 1970s, he kept telling Hans senior, his good friend, whose best man he'd even been, all about Florida until he said to his wife and two children after a visit to the United States: "We're packing our things and moving to be with Gerd!" The Hubers say they've never regretted it. Of course, they were literally entering a new world back then - but they settled in immediately. And created a piece of home for themselves in the Ambry, or pantry.

The restaurant started out as a steakhouse, then they switched to German cuisine and ran a butcher's shop on the side. Gerd's wife Uschi could often be found in the kitchen, and to this day the roast pork on the menu is served with potato salad made according to her original recipe - and is still a favourite with guests, just as it used to be with Gerd. The menu is designed in white and blue diamonds and they've been welcoming customers here since 1981, as it says on the first page and, in addition to Schweinsbraten (roast pork), you'll find everything to suit German tastes, from bratwurst and goulash soup to Geschnetzeltes (veal slices) and Sauerbraten (marinated beef roast). At the bottom, framed specially, is the advice to ask for German beer. In the past, bottle sizes in Florida were subject to different rules than in New York, Hans senior explains with a grin: they had to smuggle the wheat beer in from the north.

It's Thursday lunchtime, not exactly prime time, and yet a few tables are occupied while the sun beats down relentlessly outside. Rob and Claudia have ordered schnitzel, which is their favourite - and they know the menu like the back of their hand. During the 2014 World Cup, the couple watched Germany demolish Brazil 7-1 here and got to know Hans and Gaby. Since then, they've been coming by two or three times a week. They celebrated their daughter's communion at the Ambry, and when Rob retired from the police force, they threw a party here: "Don't tell the fire department - but there were more guests than were allowed."

A piece of home in Florida

Hans senior also wore his red jersey today especially for the visit of '51'. Back in Munich, Gerd Müller would always visit him and his family, and at some point word got round that the star striker would drop in and out of the Hubers' home, with people often gathering outside the windows and Müller handing out autograph cards. "He was always a good sport", his old friend recalls. "Back then in Munich as well as here in the USA. Gerd," says Huber, "always stayed the same. He knew where he came from and that he owed everything to football." And even though Müller didn't like to play the big shot and preferred to let others do the talking, he would always be up for a chat in the Ambry. He would diligently go from table to table, signing autographs and posing for photos. For quite a while, tourist coaches would stop at the Ambry just for Müller. “40 people would march in, have their photos taken with Gerd, then march out again - and the next coach with another 40 people would be waiting outside“, adds Huber. Müller would remain stoic during all the visits: "He would never get flustered."

His father is a member of the Reds, of course, says Hans junior - "and he has membership number 68," adds a visibly proud Gaby. He was invited over by FC Bayern for his milestone membership anniversary, and he always receives a card from the club for his birthday, which the Hubers think is really great: "That's just FC Bayern, they don't forget their fans, even if they've been in the USA for decades and are far away from Munich." They often combine visits home - often during the Oktoberfest - with visits to the stadium. "FC Bayern,’ says Hans senior, "leaves its mark on you."

Franz Beckenbauer would often sneak in through the back door, the one and only Pelé visited, as did Bayern players from the 70s, 80s and 90s - during a friendly tour of the States, Klaus Augenthaler and his team once sat together in the Ambry, among the dirndls and stag antlers on the walls. Each room has its own theme, and always with a German connection. "They really knew how to party back then," says Hans junior: there were 45 steaks sizzling away on the BBQ. When Rob and Claudia meet new people - at work, in the neighbourhood, no matter where they're from - they always take them along to the Ambry to introduce them to German culture and because "it's our place", as they put it. "It's about a sense of community, about people with a similar attitude here - we like Bavaria."

FCB forever - overseas too

Football has created a community, says Rob, who can still remember what it was like when he was a teenager: "There was no soccer here. Gerd Müller and the Lauderdale Strikers started something, and since Lionel Messi has been playing in Miami, the attention has increased by 100 per cent." He's now looking forward to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico: "There’s a huge market for soccer here - and FC Bayern are already a household name. Anyone who knows the game also knows Bayern. Bayern are a powerhouse, and I think Bayern are even better known than the German national team."

How do German immigrants see football in the USA - does it have a chance? Hans junior is torn. People in the States are fixated on their four major sports: American football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, and the show element plays a major role in all of that. Football has a tough time of it, but that doesn't mean it's threatened with eternally existing on the sidelines. When Bayern were in Houston a few years ago as part of the ‘Audi Summer Tour’, he travelled to Texas for the game against Real Madrid. The Spaniards have a huge fan base thanks to the football-loving Latinos, but around 40 per cent of the stadium were wearing FCB jerseys at the time, "including lots of Americans," recalls Hans. "Bayern is the first and only club people know from Germany. Nobody knows a thing about clubs like Leverkusen."

At the Ambry, they're more than happy with how things are going at their club at the moment. "The team itself is doing well," says Hans senior. “It's important that the players identify with the club,'”says his son, and even after Thomas Müller's departure, there are still plenty of them there: Joshua Kimmich, Manuel Neuer and Phonzy Davies, for example. They were never entirely happy with Thomas Tuchel in the Ambry, but Vincent Kompany is doing everything well. In general, the Hubers believe "footballers are not scientists - so they don't need coaches with laptops". According to Rob, you need heart to inspire people, while Claudia nods and adds: "Look at Manuel Neuer: the captain, the best goalkeeper in the world. It's like he's been chiselled out of stone, sheer perfection, you just think: wow!"

When the next Champions League game is played, they will once again sit in front of the TV behind closed doors in the Ambry, with countless pictures of Gerd Müller hanging on the restaurant walls and Harry Kane charging around the pitch on the screen: past and present always in sight. And if you know the secret knock, you're in. Here too, in the USA in 2025, an old Munich saying from the days of Gerd Müller applies: In is', wer drin is' (If you're in, you're in.)

This article appeared in the November issue of the FC Bayern members' magazine ‘51’.
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