The future of Thomas Müller is clear. At the Vancouver Whitecaps, the 35-year-old will meet a young, titleless, but ambitious team that is currently playing strongly.
After 25 years at FC Bayern, Thomas Müller is embarking on a new adventure and daring to make the leap “across the pond,” as the Munich native announced in a video a few days ago. But it’s not to the USA, as initially suspected, but to Canada that the Upper Bavarian is drawn.
On Wednesday, Müller himself announced the transfer to the Vancouver Whitecaps, before the MLS franchise followed suit shortly afterward. “I’m looking forward to coming to Vancouver and helping this team win the championship,” Müller immediately proclaimed ambitious goals.
Thomas Müller played for FC Bayern for the last time at the Club World Cup
A move to Los Angeles FC was long considered more likely. But ultimately, the good talks with sporting director Axel Schuster and coach Jesper Sörensen convinced him of the project in Vancouver, as Müller himself confirmed in the press release.
Vancouver is looking forward to the “ultimate Raumdeuter”
Former Schalke sporting director Schuster praised Müller as the “ultimate Raumdeuter” and spoke of a “statement transfer of the club.”
Müller should not come because of his charisma as an ambassador, but above all be valued as a footballer.
Therefore, Schuster also emphasized Müller’s sporting qualities. The 35-year-old is “known for his outstanding finishing, his unsurpassed spatial awareness and his tireless movements without the ball.”
As Sport Bild recently reported, coach Sörensen, former Bröndby coach, also showed Müller a clear sporting concept: The 4-3-3 system should be adapted so that the qualities of the former national player come into their own.
Anticipation for the Müller-“Miracle”
The importance of the Müller transfer was already noticeable in Canada before the official announcement. “The thing about miracles is that they are extremely rare – but they happen,” wrote the Vancouver Sun euphorically.
The signing of the Munich club icon at the “Caps” is “by far the biggest transfer in the history of the team and would go down as one of the biggest sporting steps in the history of the city,” the paper commented even before the ink was dry. And that in Vancouver, which hosted the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
But what exactly awaits Müller at his new employer? German fans should first think of Alphonso Davies when they think of the Whitecaps. The current Bayern star played there in the youth sector before making his professional debut and joining franchise history as a record sale in 2019.
Four titles in the Canadian Soccer League
The club itself looks back on an eventful history. The original Vancouver Whitecaps were founded in 1974 and played in the North American Soccer League. After the end of the NASL, the team competed as Vancouver 86ers in the Canadian Soccer League.
Between 1988 and 1991, the 86ers won four titles in a row there – including a record series of 46 games without defeat. Since 2000, Vancouver has been active again under the original name Whitecaps.
In 2011, the Whitecaps joined the North American Major League Soccer as the second Canadian team after Toronto. Since that year, the club has played its home games in BC Place Stadium, which was modernized as part of the 2010 Winter Games. The multi-purpose arena has 50,000 seats, for the Whitecaps games the capacity is limited to around 27,000 fans.
Success in the MLS is scarce
However, the fans of the “Caps” are not too spoiled with sporting success. In the MLS, it was not enough for the title, the playoff quarter-finals were the highest of emotions. In 2024, the team finished eighth in the Western Conference and was eliminated in the first playoff round.
Currently, in the 2025 season, things are going much better: After 24 games, the Whitecaps are in second place with only five defeats.
In addition, Vancouver played in the final of the Champions Cup, the CONCACAF counterpart to the Champions League, for the first time in early June. Even though the final against the Mexican representative Cruz Azul was lost 0:5, reaching the final was already a milestone in the franchise history.
Turmoil behind the scenes
The current sporting high-altitude flight receives a special meaning against the background of a change behind the scenes. Because the Whitecaps belong to a group of four investors, which also includes NBA legend Steve Nash. But in December 2024, the owners announced that they want to sell the franchise.
One reason should be that talks with the city about the construction of its own stadium are faltering. The BC Place Stadium, in which World Cup games will also be held in 2026, is criticized with its artificial turf among others by MLS boss Don Garber.
However, the players do not seem to be distracted by the structural developments. The work of Schuster, who has been the managing director and sporting director of the Whitecaps since 2019, seems to be bearing fruit. The 53-year-old German once worked with Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel in Mainz before following Christian Heidel to Schalke 04 in 2016.
Axel Schuster was once active for Mainz 05 and Schalke 04
The mission in Vancouver is to “build something great on and off the pitch,” as Schuster emphasized three years ago when his contract was extended until 2026.
Hardly any prominence in Vancouver
In his six years in Vancouver, he has already lured some German-speaking players to the Canadian West Coast through his contacts – such as ex-Schalker Alessandro Schöpf and the long-time second division professional Florian Jungwirth, who are both no longer playing there.
Internationally known names are not to be found in the current squad of the Whitecaps. The club’s record goalscorer is the US-American Brian White, who has already scored 71 goals and is still chasing goals for the Canadians.
Sebastian Berhalter, the son of Gregg Berhalter, who played for Energie Cottbus and 1860 Munich for a total of seven years and has already coached the US national team, also plays for the Whitecaps.
Young team: Müller as leader
Captain is the now 29-year-old Ryan Gauld, who was once considered a Scottish exceptional talent and made his debut in the first league at the age of 16. At Sporting Lisbon, however, he was unable to assert himself later. Gauld is currently suffering from a serious knee injury that has kept him out of action since mid-March.
With an average age of 25.7 years, the team is young – Müller is not only the most prominent, but by far the most experienced player of the Whitecaps.
It is clear anyway: He rises both sportingly and medially to the new face of the club.