The Gerd Müller Trophy is an annual football award given at the Ballon d’Or ceremony to the player who scores the most goals for club and country over a season.

What is the Gerd Müller Trophy?

  • It is presented by France Football, the same organizers behind the Ballon d’Or.
  • The trophy rewards the top goalscorer in world football based on goals for both club and national team across a single season, not just a calendar year.
  • It is named after German legend Gerd Müller, one of the most prolific strikers in history, who died in August 2021.

How and when it started

  • The award was first introduced in 2021 as “Striker of the Year” or “Best Striker Award.”
  • From 2022 onward it was renamed the Gerd Müller Trophy in Müller’s honour.
  • It is handed out during the Ballon d’Or gala alongside other themed awards like the Yashin and Kopa trophies.

Criteria and selection

  • The main criterion is the total number of competitive goals scored for club and national team during the relevant season (e.g., 2023/24 for the 2024 ceremony).
  • Goals include club competitions (league, cups, European competitions) plus official international matches.
  • It is an individual award, independent of team trophies or the main Ballon d’Or voting, though prolific scorers often feature in both discussions.

Past winners (quick scoop)

  • 2021: Robert Lewandowski (as Striker of the Year).
  • 2022: Robert Lewandowski (first under the Gerd Müller name).
  • 2023: Erling Haaland.
  • 2024: Harry Kane (for his huge goal tally across club and country in 2023/24).
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Year (ceremony) Winner Notes
2021 Robert Lewandowski Award’s first edition, called Striker of the Year.
2022 Robert Lewandowski Renamed Gerd Müller Trophy after Müller’s passing.
2023 Erling Haaland Reward for record-breaking season with club and Norway.
2024 Harry Kane Given for highest goal tally in 2023/24 season.

Who was Gerd Müller?

  • Gerd Müller was a German striker, nicknamed “Der Bomber,” and is considered one of the greatest goalscorers ever.
  • He scored 365 Bundesliga goals for Bayern Munich and 68 goals in 62 games for West Germany, winning the World Cup (1974) and European Championship (1972).
  • He also won the Ballon d’Or in 1970, which links his legacy directly to the modern ceremony that now bears his name on this trophy.

Latest news, trends, and forum-style angle

  • Recent discussions before and after the 2024 Ballon d’Or focused on whether pure goal totals should outweigh contributions like playmaking or pressing, especially in debates comparing Kane, Haaland, Kylian Mbappé and others.
  • Many fan forums frame it as “the Golden Boot of the Ballon d’Or night,” treating it as a stats-driven, less subjective counterpart to the main Ballon d’Or debate.
  • With attacking numbers rising in top leagues, the trophy has quickly become a key talking point each autumn as fans track who is leading the combined club-and-country scoring charts.

In fan discussions, people often say this trophy “finally gives strikers a clean, numbers-based crown,” while the main Ballon d’Or still mixes trophies, narrative, and reputation.

TL;DR: The Gerd Müller Trophy is a France Football award at the Ballon d’Or ceremony for the season’s most prolific goalscorer for club and country, created in 2021 and renamed in honour of legendary German striker Gerd Müller.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.