- Heinrich Müller (footballer)
Heinrich "Wudi" Müller (born
May 13 ,1909 , date of death unknown) was anAustria nfootball (soccer) player and coach. In the early 1930s he was an albeit minor part of Austria's all conquering Wunderteam. As coach he defined the post-World War II glory period ofFK Austria Wien .The Player
The trained shoemaker played from 1921 to 1935 for
Wiener AC inVienna , Austria. With this club he won the 1931 Cup of Austria and made it all the way to the final of theMitropa Cup , both matches of which which were lost against local rivalsFirst Vienna FC .In the early 1930s he was called five times to play for the
Austrian national football team , for which he scored four goals.This includes two nominations for the famed Wunderteam, where he played under the managem,ent team
Hugo Meisl andJimmy Hogan alongside the legendaryMatthias Sindelar , the arguably greatest Austrian footballer of all time. In these matches Austria defeated Italy 2:1 in March 1932 and Hungary 3:2 in October 1932In 1935 the offensive midfielder moved to
MTK Hungaria inBudapest where he won, alongside players likeGusztáv Sebes andFerenc Sas the Hungarian championships of 1936 and 1937. In June 1940 Müller returned to Vienna and joinedFK Austria Wien , initially as a player.The Coach
As coach his name is primarily associated with FK Austria. Over three terms, which span the 1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s, he altogether was in charge there for about 12 years. To date he remains the longest serving coach of "Austria".
Most successful was his first period which reached from 1945 to 1954. Besides the three championships in the years 1949, 1950 and 1953 he also led the club to success in the Austrian Cup finals of 1948 and 1949. In the first three years at the helm of Austria he also played for league matches for the club.
In 1951 "Austria" undertook a nowadays legendary trip to South America. There the team around players like
Ernst Ocwirk ,Ernst Stojaspal and Lukas "Harry" Aurednik defeated in the hugeMaracanã Stadium ofRio de Janeiro the Club Nacional fromMontevideo ,Uruguay , which had six World Cup winners from the tournament in the previous year in their line-up, with 4-0Beginning with April 1953 Austrian players aged 30 and beyond became exempt from the ban to play abroad. Especially after the World Cup of 1954, this led to a hefty blood-letting for Austrian football. The club "Austria" itself lost several of its aces, most of the moving to France, thus the remarkable "Austria" of that era becoming part of the past.
Also "Wudi" Müller chose to leave. Thus, in 1956 he could be found leading the
Dutch national football team to a 3-2 win in Switzerland.In the later 1950s and early 1960s he could be found at the helm of the Dutch first division side Willem II in
Tilburg .In December 1964, after a stint with
AEK in Athens, he returned to "Austria" trying to fill the gap left behind when Edi Frühwirt left the club. With Robert Sara, who should remain with the club for 21 years, Thomas Parits, and Hans "Buffy" Ettmayer the club had a number of promising talents in their roster.Nevertheless, the club ended up seventh in the league and
Ernst Ocwirk was placed as "sporting director" alongside Müller and replaced him fully by the end of the year.In the 1971/72 season "Wudi" Müller made another comeback on the coaching bench of "Austria", but this remained a venture as hapless as his previous one.
tatistical Summaries
Era Club Successes 1971-1972 flagicon|Austria FK Austria Wien 1945-1955 flagicon|Austria FK Austria Wien 1964-1965 flagicon|Austria FK Austria Wien 196X-1964 flagicon|Greece AEK Athens1960-1961 flagicon|Netherlands Willem II Tilburg 1958-1959 flagicon|Netherlands Willem II Tilburg 1956 flagicon|Netherlands Netherlands 1964-1965 flagicon|Austria FK Austria Wien 1948 - Cup of Austria
1949 - Championship of Austria
1949 - Cup of Austria
1950 - Championship of Austria
1953 - Championship of AustriaRecord as Bondscoach of the Netherlands
Era P W - D - L 15/09/1956 1 1 - 0 - 0
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