Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt leaving Bayern Munich at the end of June

Per Bayern Munich’s web site, FC Bayern chief medical officer and head team doctor Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt has decided to leave the club at the end of this month. Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt has served as a team doctor at Bayern for 40 years in two separate tenures. He resigned back in 2015 when Pep Guardiola was manager and the medical staff was blamed for a 3-1 loss to FC Porto in the Champions League, but came back once Jupp Heynckes took charge of the club again in 2017.

It was his personal decision to step down from his post because he would like to be able to shift his focus to treating patients at the Alter Hof surgery center in Munich. He’s also going to be collaborating with the Rechts der Isar University Clinic on a scientific project led by Prof. Dr. Rüdiger von Eisenhart-Rothe, who’s the director of the clinic and polyclinic for orthopedics and sports orthopedics. Their aim with the project is to try and develop software that will be able to diagnose certain muscular injuries using MRT images from artificial intelligence technologies.

Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt expressed his sincere gratitude for having been able to work for FC Bayern for 40 years:

Looking back at my 40 years at FC Bayern, I’m happy and very satisfied. The experiences we’ve made here, the successes we’ve celebrated together and most importantly the people I’ve met at this club, have shaped my life permanently. I wish FC Bayern all the best for the future!

Club president Herbert Hainer hasn’t been at his post for very long, but having worked with Müller-Wohlfahrt for just a short period of time, he knows how important of a role the doctor played at FC Bayern:

On behalf of the whole of FC Bayern, I would like to thank Dr Müller-Wohlfahrt for his outstanding work over the last 40 years. The “Doc” has played a substantial role in our footballing success thanks to his unique expertise and exceptional skills. He will always be part of the Bayern family.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge spoke on behalf of the club when he told Müller-Wohlfahrt the club regrets his decision to leave and had also written him a personal letter. The two have known each other for over three decades, as Müller-Wohlfahrt has been a Bayern team doctor since Rummenigge’s playing days at the club. Rummenigge said that Bayern has generations of players that should express thanks to Müller-Wohlfahrt’s hard work and dedication to the club for 40 years:

Mull has done outstanding work at FC Bayern over decades, creating a worldwide standard in sports medicine. All our successes of the last 40 years also have the name Dr Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt stamped on them. The 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. We will be delighted to welcome Mull as a friend among us in the future. We wish him all the best for the future from the bottom of our hearts!

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Bongarts/Getty Images

Much like Rummenigge, sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic experienced a relationship with Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt both as a player and then staff member of FC Bayern:

I got to know the Doc from a player’s perspective when I joined FC Bayern at the age of 21. I’ve always trusted him, and I’m very grateful for what he has done for me and for FC Bayern. Mull is unique, which is why I brought him into our team again in my capacity as sporting director in 2017. The door at FC Bayern will always be open for Mull.

From all of here at BFW:

DANKE FUR ALLES, HANS!

Photo by Boris Streubel/Getty Images