Eintracht Frankfurt

Möller began his career at BSC Schwarz-Weiß 1919 Frankfurt and moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in 1981. In 1985 the midfielder won the German A-Youth Championship and in the same year he joined the first-team squad, venturing into professional football. He played his first game in Germany's highest football class on the last day of the 1985–86 season in the 0-1 defeat on 26 April 1986 against Hamburger SV.^[3] In the following season he came up with 22 missions. He played more and more into the team structure and on Matchday 5 against 1. FC Kaiserslautern he scored his first professional goal in league play when he converted a penalty kick to make it 1-2;^[4] it was his only goal of the season. In the 1987–88 season, the youngster, who was good at dribbling, developed into a top performer. In his first game of the season on matchday 5 against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Möller scored twice.^[5]

Borussia Dortmund

On 17 February 1988, Möller made his debut for Borussia Dortmund, scoring the opening goal against VfL Bochum in the 42nd minute at home; however, the game ended in a 2-1 defeat for the Black and Yellows, despite BVB leading 1-0 up until the 88th minute.^[6] On the 26th day of the 1987–88 season, against his future employer, FC Schalke 04, Möller received his first and only red card,^[7] but only had to sit out one game.^[8] In the 1988–89 DFB Cup season, Möller advanced to the final with his team. There he met SV Werder Bremen. After a clear 4–1 win against the North Germans, his won his first national title during his first spell with the club.^[9][2] He also won the DFL-Supercup with Dortmund in the beginning of the 1989–90 season, where he scored the title-deciding goal in the 88th minute of the final match against Bayern Munich.^[10]

Second spell at Eintracht Frankfurt and move to Juventus

Möller was a top performer at Borussia but returned to Frankfurt in the summer of 1990.^[11] In the first year after his return, he scored 16 goals in the Bundesliga, setting a personal record that he would not surpass until the end of his career. In the 1991–92 season he missed out on winning the title with Frankfurt on the final day. The season was overshadowed by disputes within the team. Möller was a frequent target of keeper Uli Stein, on the one hand because of his inconsistency, on the other hand because of the many special contractual conditions.^[12]

Möller also wanted to play for Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1992–93 season. However, he had promised the Serie A club Juventus an option right for DM 1.3 million, which the club redeemed in March 1992.^[13] The Turin side had resold this option right to Atalanta B.C., whom Möller would have had to join if Juventus F.C. had not exercised the option themselves. FIFA had to provide clarification: Möller was bound by the option and had to move to Italy on 1 July 1992, for which he had to buy himself out of his contract with Eintracht Frankfurt for DM 5 million.^[14]

After moving to Italian side Juventus, he won the UEFA Cup in 1993, beating out his former club, Borussia Dortmund, 6–1 on aggregate, with Möller scoring one of the goals and providing three assists across both legs of the final.^[15][16][17]

Borussia Dortmund (second spell)

Despite performing well at Juventus, Möller decided to return to Germany in the summer of 1994 and signed for Borussia Dortmund for the second time. Upon his return to Dortmund, he won several domestic titles with the club, including consecutive Bundesliga titles in 1995 and 1996.^[2] He stayed with the ball game club for a total of six years, scored goals regularly and had the corresponding deployment times. Especially in the championship years 1995 and 1996, Möller showed his class as a playmaker, creator, and scorer. He was considered one of the most prolific midfielders at the time.

His greatest success at club level came in the 1996–97 Champions League: in the final at Munich's Olympic Stadium on 28 May 1997, he once again beating his former team, Turin side Juventus on this occasion, with a 3–1 victory, providing two assists during the match, while his corner also led to the opening goal.^[18][19][20] He followed up the victory with the Intercontinental Cup later that year, after which he was named Man of the Match.^[21]

During this time, however, there was also controversy and debate surrounding Möller, after he feigned a foul inside the opposing box in a game against Karlsruher SC on 13 April 1995, when BVB had been trailing 0–1. The then wrongly awarded penalty led to the equalising goal (1–1), with the final score ending in an eventual 2–1 win for Dortmund. Möller tried to justify his Schwalbe^[22] (a word used for a dive in German football jargon, literally meaning "swallow" in Germany) and attacked the KSC coach at the time, Winfried Schäfer.^[23] Möller was sentenced to a two-game ban and a fine of DM 10,000 by the DFB sports court. He was the first player to be banned by the DFB because of a dive.^[24] National coach Berti Vogts had to temporarily take him out of the national team due to his ban in the league.^[25][26]

In his last year with the Black and Yellows, Möller only made 18 league appearances, being substituted on or off seven times. Reasons for this were the strong competition from players like Lars Ricken, Christian Nerlinger, Miroslav Stević and Vladimir But as well as minor injuries.

Schalke 04

In the summer of 2000, in order to risk a fresh start, Möller decided to sign with arch-rivals Schalke 04 in Dortmund, especially since he received a well-paid offer from Rudi Assauer. Despite criticism, he immediately became a regular there and formed the backbone of Schalke's midfield in his first year with Jörg Böhme, Radoslav Látal and Jiří Němec. Schalke finished second in the Bundesliga at the end of the 2000/01 season, just 1 point behind the Champions Bayern Munich and won the DFB-Pokal. Following season, Schalke successfully defended the DFB-Pokal title after defeating Bayer Leverkusen at the final where Möller scored his team's 3rd goal in a 4–2 victory.^[27] After two good years with the Gelsenkirchen side, Möller became more of a supplementary player in the 2002/03 season. Although he made 22 appearances under coaches Frank Neubarth and later Marc Wilmots, he was substituted on or off nine times.^[28]

Late career and third spell with Eintracht Frankfurt

For the 2003–04 season, Möller went back to Hessen to his home club Eintracht Frankfurt, which had just been promoted to the Bundesliga. Celebrated by the fans before the season as a great returnee and a guarantee of success, disillusionment quickly spread. Möller only played eleven league games and only played 90 minutes twice.^[4] He also did not manage to help the club avoid relegation. Möller played his last professional game on 28 February 2004, when he came on as a substitute in the 89th minute of the 3-1 win against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Three days later he announced his retirement from professional football, bringing his career to an end.^[29]

Club

• ¹ Including appearances in 1989 DFB-Supercup, 1995 DFB-Supercup, 1996 DFB-Supercup and 1997 Intercontinental Cup.

International