The Most Decorated German Footballers Ever
Top footballers win trophies throughout their careers; no doubt in that, but some win the most, and in this post we are to top German footballers who have won the most number of trophies ever. Who are the most decorated German soccer players of all time?
Let’s call them
the most successful German players in the history of football
. Although the number of trophies a footballer has won is not a perfect gauge of success for that footballer, it is to a great extent.
A footballer should try hard or at least be on a successful team to win trophies, after all, and German footballers are no exception to this rule. So which German footballers have won the most number of trophies during their careers?
The List of German Players with the Most Trophies in History
Please note that in counting the number of trophies we have included both club and international trophies a player - a German player we mean - has won, but no trophies for the second or third place in a competition, if ever they won one, though we may mention those second or third-place trophies, too. And here comes the list of German players with the most trophies in history!
Thomas Muller (28 Trophies)
The most decorated German footballer to this date with 28 trophies won, Thomas Muller is a 31-year-old midfielder who has been serving the top Bundesliga club,
Bayern Munich, since 2008. Since he’s still in the business, it is highly probable that he wins even more trophies, but let’s see how many and what trophies he has won to this date.
Well, as it’s clear from the title, Muller has won 28 trophies to this date only one of which is international; actually the FIFA World Cup trophy he won with the German national team in 2014. The rest 27 trophies he won are actually club ones and include 9 Bundesliga titles 8 of which were consecutive; actually from 2012 to 2020, 6 DFB Pokal trophies, 6 German Super Cups, 2 UEFA Champions League titles, 2 UEFA Super Cups, and 2 FIFA Club World Cup trophies. Quite a lot! In fact, enough to make Muller number one on the list of most decorated German footballers ever!
Muller was also part of the German national team who finished third in 2010 World Cup. So if we count this one also toward his trophies, then he has won a total of 29 trophies during his career. And just to mention a few of the individual trophies Muller has won, we should say they are FIFA World Cup Golden Boot and FIFA World Cup Best Young Player both in 2010, and FIFA World Cup Silver Boot in 2014.
Manuel Neuer (28 Trophies)
The second and only footballer after Thomas Muller on the list of most decorated German footballers ever to have won 28 trophies,
Manuel Neueris also the first and most decorated goalkeeper on the list. Just like Muller, he’s still in the business and has been serving Bayern Munich since 2011. He has also won a major part of his club trophies at Bayern Munich.
Neuer has won two international trophies to this date: 2014 FIFA World Cup with the senior German national team and UEFA European Under-21 Championship with the German U21 national team. As for Neuer’s club trophies, we should say that from among all the 28 trophies he has won to this date two have been with the German club,
Schalke 04, whom he served from 2004 to 2011. These two trophies are one DFB Pokal trophy in 2010-11 season and one German League Cup in 2005.
The rest 24 trophies Neuer has won are all with Bayern Munich. These include 8 consecutive Bundesliga titles from 2012 to 2020, 5 DFB Pokal trophies, 5 German Super Cup trophies, 2 UEFA Champions League titles, 2 UEFA Super Cups, and 2 FIFA Club World Cup trophies. Neuer has also a number of individual trophies to his name among them are five Best European Goalkeeper awards.
Lothar Matthaus (26 Trophies)
Among the most successful German players in the history of football, Lothar Matthaus is a 60-year-old retired German footballer who also occupies the third position on our list of
most decorated German footballers ever
with a total of 26 trophies he won during his career. If we add two UEFA Champions League second-place titles that he won during his career - actually in 1986-87 and 1998-99 seasons - to his trophies, then the number of trophies he won during his career rises to 28 and he will be actually among the four most decorated German footballers ever alongside Oliver Kahn if we also take Kahn’s second and third-place trophies into account too.
Matthaus is mostly considered as a Bayern Munich player, though he served the top Italian club,
Inter Milan, sometime during his career and also won three club trophies including one Serie A title in 1988-89 season, one Italian Super Cup in 1989 and one UEFA Cup in 1990-91 season with them. And with Bayern Munich? He actually won 19 trophies including 7 Bundesliga titles, 3 DFB Pokal trophies, one German Super Cup, 4 Fuji Cups, one UEFA Cup, and 3 German League Cups.
Matthaus also won one MLS Eastern Division Champion trophy with the American team, Metrostars, whom he served toward the end of his career. He also won one FIFA World Cup in 1990, one UEFA European Championship in 1980, and one US Cup in 1993 with the German national team not to mention that he’s also the winner of Ballon d'Or trophy in 1990.
Oliver Kahn (25 Trophies)
And here comes the second and last goalkeeper on our list of most decorated German soccer players of all time: Oliver Kahn. He’s actually 51 years old by now and is mostly known as a Bayer Munich player. He actually served Bayern Munich for 14 years between 1994 and 2008 and during this time won 22 trophies with them.
So, which are the trophies Kahn won with Bayern? They are 8
Bundesligatitles, 6 DFB Pokal trophies, 5 German League Cups, one UEFA Champions League title in 2000-01 season, one UEFA Cup in 1995-96 season, and one Intercontinental Cup in 2001. Kahn also won one Oberliga Baden-Württemberg title in 1989-90 season and one Verbandsliga Nordbaden title in 1988-89 season with the German club, Karlsruher SC II, at the start of his career.
Kahn also won one UEFA European Championship in 1990 with the German national team. The other second or third-place trophies he won with the German national team are FIFA Confederations Cup (third place) in 2005, FIFA World Cup (runner-up) in 2002, and the same cup in 2006 (third place).
Jerome Boateng (24 Trophies)
Among the
most decorated German footballers ever
who are still in the business, Jerome Boateng is a 32-year-old German defender who’s been serving Bayern Munich since 2011. He has also the experience of serving the Premier League club,
Manchester City, but only for a season (2010-11). The interesting fact here is that in the same season he also managed for win one trophy (FA Cup) with the Premier League club.
Boateng has two international trophies to his name: 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2002 UEFA European U21 Championship. The rest of Boateng’s trophies he has actually won with Bayern Munich. These include 8 consecutive Bundesliga titles, 5 DFB Pokal trophies, 2 German Super Cups, 2 UEFA Champions League titles, 2 UEFA Super Cups, and 2 FIFA Club World Cups.
Bastian Schweinsteiger (23 Trophies)
A recently-retired footballer on our list of most decorated German footballers ever, Bastian Schweinsteiger is a 36-year-old retired midfielder who served Bayern Munich, Manchester United, and the American club,
Chicago Fire, during his career, however, he’s most considered as a Bayern Munich player since he served the Bavarians way more than the other two clubs; actually for 13 years between 2002 and 2015.
If we just count in the second and third-place trophies Schweinsteiger won during his career - they are two World Cup third places, one FIFA Confederations Cup third place, and one UEFA European Football Championship, then he will end up on the third place on our list of
most decorated German soccer players of all time
with 27 trophies.
During his playtime, Schweinsteiger only won one trophy with a non-German club and that was the FA Cup he won with Manchester United in 2015-16 season. The rest of his trophies, Schweinsteiger won with Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich II, and Bayern Munich Juniors. These include 8 Bundesliga titles, 7 DFB Pokal trophies, one German League Cup, one German Super Cup, and one UEFA Champions League title with Bayern senior team, one Regionalliga Sud title with
Bayern Munich II, and one U17 and U19 Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich Juniors.
Toni Kroos (23 Trophies)
Another footballer on the list of most decorated German footballers ever who is still in the business,
Toni Kroosis a 31-year-old German midfielder who’s been serving the La Liga club, Real Madrid, since 2014. In fact, he has only served this club and the German club, Bayern Munich, up until now, and both as of 2021 for 7 years - Bayern Munich from 2007 to 2014 and Real from 2014 to now.
Despite the fact that Kroos has served both Bayern and Real for the same number of years until now, he has made more appearances for the La Liga club and also has won more trophies with them: 13 trophies which include 2 La Liga titles, 2 Spanish Super Cups, three UEFA Champions League titles, 2 UEFA Super Cups, and 3 FIFA Club World Cups.
And the number of trophies Kroos has won with Bayern Munich is 9 including 3 Bundesliga titles, 2 DFB Pokal trophies, one German Super Cup, one UEFA Champions League title, one UEFA Super Cup, and one FIFA Club World Cup. Kroos was also part of the German national team who won the 2014 edition of FIFA World Cup, so, he’s got one international trophy too.
Alexander Zickler (22 Trophies)
Not actually one of the most successful German players in the history of football, Alexander Zickler is at least one of the
German players with the most trophies in history
. He actually won 22 club trophies during his career and has indeed a place on our list of most decorated German footballers ever. Zickler is 47 years old by now and played not only for the club he was a product of (
Dynamo Dredsen) but also for Bayern Munich and the Austrian club, Red Bull Salzburg, during his career.
In fact, Zickler played a major part of his career for the two above-mentioned clubs, Bayern and Red Bull Salzburg: Actually for 17 years of his 20-year career and he also won all his club trophies with the same clubs, though he only won 3 of them with Red Bull Salzburg which includes three Austrian Football Bundesliga titles.
The rest - we mean the 19 remaining trophies - Zickler won with Bayern Munich. These include 7 Bundesliga titles, 4 DFB Pokal trophies, 5 German League Cups, one UEFA Champions League title in 2000-01 season, one UEFA Cup in 1995-96 season, and one Intercontinental Cup in 2001. Unlike some of the footballers already mentioned in this post, Zickler has no international trophy to his name and he only made 12 appearances for the German national team throughout his career.
Philipp Lahm (22 Trophies)
A Bayern Munich player for almost all his career, Phillip Lahm is a 37-year-old retired German footballer who only served the German club,
VfB Stuttgart, other than Bayern Munich during his career and on loan for two years. Easy to guess, Lahm won all his 21 club trophies with Bayern Munich. He also won a FIFA World Cup in 2014 with the German national team.
The club trophies Lahm won with Bayern Munich include 8 Bundesliga titles, 6 DFB Pokal trophies, 3 German Super Cups, one German League Cup in 2007, one UEFA Champions League title in 2012-13 season, one UEFA Super Cup in 2013, and one FIFA Club World Cup in the same year. During his playtime, Lahm captained both Bayern Munich and his country’s national team for some time. He has also a number of individual honors to his name among them is a German Footballer of the Year Award in 2017.
Mehmet Scholl (22 Trophies)
A German footballer with Turkish origins on our list of
most decorated German footballers ever
, Mehmet Scholl is a 50-year-old retired footballer who, just like Phillip Lahm, played for Bayern Munich for almost all his career. He just served another German club, namely
Karlsruher SC, other than Bayern during his career and for three years between 1989 and 1992. And again just like Phillip Lahm, Scholl also won all his club trophies with the Bavarians.
Altogether Scholl won 21 club trophies with Bayern which include 8 Bundesliga titles, 5 DFB Pokal trophies, 5 German League Cups, one UEFA Champions League title in 2000-01 season, one UEFA Cup in 1995-96 season, and one Intercontinental Cup in 2001. He also won one UEFA European Championship with the German national team in 1996. Unlike Phillip Lahm, Mehmet Scholl played in an attacking position - actually attacking midfielder. He also managed Bayern Munich under-aged and junior teams between 2008 and 2013.
Franz Beckenbauer (20 Trophies)
Undoubtedly one of the most successful German players in the history of football, Franz Beckenbauer is a 75-year-old retired footballer and manager who is also considered as one of the legendary German footballers ever despite the fact that he’s the last on our list of most decorated German footballers. He’s actually no less than the footballers already mentioned in this post, if not more. In fact, if you leave the matter to a critic or football pundit, Beckenbauer would probably be voted the most successful on the list, no matter how many trophies he has won or even has not won!
`To be more precise, Beckenbauer won most of his club trophies with the club he served the most during his career: Bayern Munich. These include one Regionalliga Sud title in 1964-65 season, 4 Bundesliga titles, 4 DFB Pokal trophies, 3 European Cups, one European Cup Winners' Cup in 1966-67 season, and one Intercontinental Cup in 1967. Beckenbauer also won one Bundesliga title with the German club, Hamburger SV, in 1981-82 season, and three North American Soccer League titles with the American club,
New York Cosmos.
The legendary German footballer also won one FIFA World Cup in 1974 and one UEFA European Championship in 1972 with the German national team - in fact, West Germany national team. And as a manager, Beckenbauer won one FIFA World Cup with the West Germany national team in 1990, one Ligue 1 title with the French club, Marseille, in 1990-91 season, and one Bundesliga title in 1993-94 season and one UEFA Cup in 1995-96 season with Bayern Munich. Beckenbauer is the only footballer on our list of most decorated German footballers to have won the Ballon d'Or trophy twice; once in 1972 and another time in 1976.
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