Germany striker Thomas Müller announced on Monday that he is ending his 14-year career with the national team following the conclusion of Euro 2024.
“After 131 national team games and 45 goals, I am saying goodbye,” Mueller said in a video statement announcing his decision.
“When I played my first international match for the German national team over 14 years ago, I could never have dreamed of all this,” Mueller said in the video.
“Great victories and bitter defeats. Sometimes on the floor, only to get back up again.
“It always made me very proud to play for my country. We celebrated together and sometimes shed a tear together,” he said.
Germany’s 2-1 loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals marked Thomas Müller’s final game for the national team. A late extra-time goal by Spain’s Mikel Merino ended Germany’s hopes of winning the tournament on home soil.
After the game, an emotional Müller hinted that it might be his last match for Germany. He mentioned that he would discuss with national team coach Julian Nagelsmann whether stepping aside for younger players was the “sensible option.”
Following Müller’s announcement, Nagelsmann praised his qualities as a player, saying the German team would “miss him very much.”
“Nobody is like Thomas Müller,” stated Rudi Völler, the Germany national team director and former prolific striker.
“His value to German football cannot be overestimated. Müller’s unorthodox, intuitive, unpredictable style is precisely why he is successful,” he said.
Müller won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup in his debut year with the national team, scoring five goals in South Africa. He also scored the opening goal in Germany’s famous 7-1 victory over Brazil in the 2014 World Cup, leading to their title win.
Of the players who won the World Cup with Germany in 2014, only goalkeeper Manuel Neuer remains involved with the national team. Germany and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos announced before Euro 2024 that he would retire from football after the tournament.
Unlike Kroos, Müller will continue playing for his club Bayern Munich, where he is under contract until 2025. “The younger generation doesn’t know the national team without Thomas Müller, and I can’t really imagine it without him,” said Bayern president Herbert Hainer. “I’m delighted that Thomas will continue to play for our club.”
With 131 appearances, Müller is third on Germany’s all-time list behind Lothar Matthäus and Miroslav Klose. He also ranks sixth on Germany’s all-time scoring list, tied with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
“His achievements and his titles speak for themselves,” said German football association president Bernd Neuendorf. “With his goals and ingenuity, he played a key role in one of the most successful periods in the history of our national team,” he stated.
In his farewell message, Müller urged fans to “keep your fingers crossed for the team on the way to the 2026 World Cup. I’m doing that too, now as a fan in the stands and no longer as a player on the pitch.”
