Sepp Maier

• 1. Introduction

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  Sepp Maier spent his entire professional career with one club, making 709 appearances for Bayern Munich across seventeen seasons. He was born Josef Dieter Maier on the 28th of February 1944. He grew up to guard the goal for both Bayern and the West Germany national team. For decades he held Bayern's all-time appearance record, a mark that stood until Thomas Müller passed it in 2024. Numbers alone do not explain why fans adored him so much. They do not explain why a summer afternoon in 1979 nearly cost him his career. Nor do they explain why a wandering bird once briefly upstaged him mid-match. By 1958, a teenager from the Bavarian town of Metten had already joined Bayern's youth ranks, years before he ever kept goal in the Bundesliga.

• 2. Building a Dynasty

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  Maier's first senior season came in 1962-63, when Bayern still competed in the Oberliga Süd. The club did not reach the Bundesliga until 1965-66, the season Maier logged his first top-flight appearances.

  During the 1970s, Bayern fielded a team built around Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Müller. Together they won four West German league titles and three German cups. They also won three consecutive European Cups, beating Atlético Madrid in 1974, Leeds United in 1975, and AS Saint-Étienne in 1976. Maier had already tasted European success in 1967, when Bayern beat Rangers F.C. in extra time to win the Cup Winners Cup. Across the five matches of those four European finals, including the 1974 final that needed a replay, Maier conceded only one goal in total.

  Maier was voted German Footballer of the Year three times, in 1975, 1977, and 1978. Between 1966 and 1979 he also played 442 consecutive Bundesliga matches, a streak that remains a German record.

  In 1976, Bayern also lifted the Intercontinental Cup, extending the club's reach beyond Europe.

• 3. Germany's Number One

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  West Germany called on Maier for four consecutive World Cups, starting in 1966 in England. There he served as non-playing deputy to starting goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski.

  At the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Maier started every match West Germany played. That run included a 4-3 semifinal loss to Italy after extra time. He sat out only the third-place game, where Horst Wolter took the gloves instead.

  In 1974, playing at home, Maier reached the peak of his international career. West Germany advanced to the final with a team that also featured Franz Beckenbauer, Berti Vogts, Gerd Müller, and Paul Breitner. The hosts beat a Netherlands side led by Johan Cruyff 2-1 in the final. That match was played in Munich, described in the record as Maier's own hometown.

  In 1978, host nation Argentina staged the World Cup, and Maier again played well. West Germany could not advance past the second round that year.

  Across those four World Cups and his years with West Germany, Maier finished his international career with 95 caps.

• 4. The Crash That Ended It

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  On the 14th of July 1979, Maier lost control of his car while aquaplaning. He collided with an oncoming vehicle, injuring two women who were inside it.

  Doctors at the district hospital treated Maier over the weekend and diagnosed only a few rib fractures. They failed to recognize the true extent of his injuries.

  Through his friend Uli Hoeneß, newly appointed as Bayern's manager, Maier was connected to the club doctor. On the doctor's recommendation, he was transferred to Großhadern hospital. X-rays there revealed a ruptured lung, a displaced liver, a torn diaphragm, and two and a half liters of blood pooled in his abdominal cavity. Emergency surgery at Großhadern saved his life.

  He returned to training on the 26th of November 1979, only months after the crash. Even so, he had to end his career, missing the entire 1979-80 season.

• 5. The Cat from Anzing

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  Maier once summed up his craft in a single line. "A keeper should give off a sense of calm, and not fall asleep while doing so," he said.

  Fans called him "Die Katze von Anzing," the cat from Anzing. The nickname nodded to his fast reflexes, agility, flexibility, speed, and consistency in goal.

  He also became known for his overlong shorts. Maier was the first goalkeeper to wear the outsize gloves that fans nicknamed "Mickey Mouse" gloves, a style that later became standard equipment.

  During one match at the Olympiastadion, Maier grew bored because the opposing side had not threatened his goal all game. When a duck wandered onto the pitch, he tried to catch it.

  In June 2009, the Bavarian government honoured Maier with a Life Achievement Award.

• 6. After the Whistle

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  Oliver Kahn was among the goalkeepers Maier mentored once his playing days ended and he moved into coaching for both Bayern and the national team.

  In October 2004, national team manager Jürgen Klinsmann terminated Maier's contract with the side. Maier had publicly backed Kahn over Arsenal's Jens Lehmann in a dispute over who should start in goal for Germany.

  Bayern kept Maier on as head goalkeeping coach after that, a role he held until he retired in 2008.

  In 2017, Bayern presented Maier with its One Club Man Award. His name also sits in Germany's Sports Hall of Fame, alongside the sport's other honoured figures.