Veteran doc Müller-Wohlfahrt stepping down at Bayern Munich

Long-serving Bayern Munich doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt is stepping down after some 40 years at club.

77-year-old Müller-Wohlfahrt will end his activities at end of June, a decision that club “very much regrets,” Bavarian powerhouse said on Friday.

Müller-Wohlfahrt was previously also Germany team doctor for more than 20 years. He retired from that position after 2018 World Cup.

Müller-Wohlfahrt, who first started working for Bayern in 1977, become a familiar sight running onto field with his long silver hair any time re was a stricken player. He was kwn as “Mull” by players.

“ whole club and generations of players –- from Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller to Klaus Augenthaler and Bastian Schweinsteiger, to Thomas Müller and Robert Lewandowski — owe very special thanks to Mull,” Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.

Only former Bayern coaches Pep Guardiola and Jürgen Klinsmann fell out with veteran doctor during ir respective spells in charge.

Müller-Wohlfahrt left Bayern in vember 2008 after disagreements with Klinsmann, and returned five months later when Klinsmann was fired and replaced by Jupp Heynckes.

Guardiola h a public falling out with Müller-Wohlfahrt, whom he blamed for a long injury list among his stars, leing to doctor’s departure in April 2015. Mueller-Wohlfahrt said re h been a “breakdown in trust.”

Guardiola later fell out with Müller-Wohlfahrt’s successor, Volker Braun, in similar circumstances, with Braun suggesting Spanish coach was forcing players back from injury too soon. Müller-Wohlfahrt returned to Bayern in vember 2017 when Heynckes was back for his fourth stint in charge.

“When I look back on my 40 years at Bayern, I’m happy and very satisfied,” Müller-Wohlfahrt told club website. “ experiences we’ve h toger, successes, and above all people that I’ve gotten to kw in this club have h a lasting impact on my life. I wish Bayern all best for future.”

He isn’t retiring completely just yet. Bayern said he will continue to see patients at his Alter Hof surgery in central Munich, and he is collaborating with a local university clinic on a project to diagse muscular injuries with artificial intelligence using ims taken through magnetic resonance tomography.